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1^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. c<vjl 



A MANUAL OF 



Mending and Repairing 



WITH DIAGRAMS 



BY 

Charles Godfrey Leland 






i«« mm'- , 

NEW YORK 
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1896 



A $> 

v 



Copyright, 1896, 
By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY. 



BURR PRINTING HOUSE, FRANKFORT AND JACOB 8T8., N. Y. 



CONTENTS 



PAGES 

Introduction . . . . ; . . vii-xxiii 

Materials used in Mending , i-n 

Mending Broken China, Porcelain, Crockery, Majol- 
ica, Terra-Cotta, Brick and Tile Work . . 12-32 
Mending Glass, together with several Allied Proc- 
esses : Approved Cements — Silicate of Soda , . 33-49 
Wood-Shavings in Mending and Making many Objects 
— Ornamental Work of Shavings — Marquetry — 
Repairing Panel Pictures with Shavings . . 50-57 

Repairing Woodwork 58-85 

On Repairing and Restoring Books, Manuscripts, and 
Papers, with Directions for Easy Binding and 
Paper-Mending — Book-Worms — The Ravages of 

Book-Worms . 86-120 

Papier-Mache : Repairing Toys — Making Grounds for 
Pictures and Walls — Carton-Cuir and Carton- 
Pierre . . 121-133 

Mending Stone-Work : Mosaics — Ceresa-Work — Por- 
celain or Crockery Mosaic . . . . 134-142 

Repairing Ivory 143-155 

Repairing Amber : How to perfectly Re-Join Broken 
Amber, and to imitate it— How to Melt Amber in 

Fragments to a Single Body .... 156-158 

v 



VI 



CONTENTS 



TACKS 

[ndiarubber and Gutta-Percha : Mending [ndiarubber 
Shoes and making Garments Waterproof, with 
other Applications 159-168 

Mending Metal-Work or Repairing bv means of it: 

Fireproof Cements, with [ron Binders . . 169-182 

Repairing Leather-Work: Trunks, Shoes, or in \\y 
other Forms — Joining Straps — Making Cheap 
Shots 183-10S 

To Mend Hats, Blankets, anp similar f 
Fei riNG 



[nvisible Mending of Garments, Laces, or Embroi 



deries . 
Mending Mother-of-Pearj anp Corai 
Restoring anp Repairing Pictures . 
Generai Recipes .... 



HBRICS BV 

199-201 



202-2C>5 

joo-200 
210-230 
231-253 



INDEX 



255-264 



INTRODUCTION 

The author of this work modestly trusts that all 
who read it with care will admit that in it he has dis- 
tinctly shown that mending or repairing, which has 
hitherto been regarded as a mere adjunct to other 
arts, is really an art by itself, if not a science, since it 
is based on chemical and other principles, which 
admit of extensive application and general combina- 
tion. It has its laws — a fact which has never been 
hinted at by any writer, since all recipes for restora- 
tion in existence are each singly inventions made to 
suit certain cases. This work has been conceived on 
a different principle. 

A thorough knowledge of this art of repairing, 
mending, or restoring various objects is of very great 
value, since there is no household in which it is not 
often called into requisition. In the kitchen or draw- 
ing-room, in the library and nursery, there are daily 
breakages, of which a large and needless proportion 
are losses, simply because such a man as a general 
mender, who is accomplished in all branches of the 
art, does not exist. And, what is more, it is equally 
true that no one has ever realised to what a vast ex- 
tent mending and saving may be carried, with a little 
expenditure of time, practice, and money, by any in- 



viii INTRODUCTION 

telligent person who will devote serious attention to 
it. Within a comparatively few years discoveries in 
science or in nature have enlarged the ability of the 
mender to an extraordinary extent — I need only men- 
tion the applications now made with silicate of soda, 
celluloid, gutta percha, and glycerine to confirm what 
I say — so largely, indeed, that only the accomplished 
technologist and chemist is really aware of what can 
be done in general repairing compared to what was 
possible only a few years ago. I believe that there 
are few thoroughly practical persons (and, I may add, 
few who take an interest in art in any form, or even 
in books) who will read this work without deep inter- 
est, and without acquiring information of such value 
that in comparison to it the cost of the book will seem 
a trifle. 

Though mending or restoring is a subject which in 
some form comes home to and concerns everybody, 
and which it is assuredly everybody's interest to 
understand, this is, I believe, the first book in which 
its application to a great variety of wants has been 
made, and that in such a clearly co-ordinated man- 
ner, and according to such a simple principle, that 
whoever reads it can have no difficulty in mending 
any object, even though it be not described here. In 
all works of the kind which I have seen the recipes 
for repairing have been given simply according to 
their subjects^ without any view to general princi- 
ples of application, and a great proportion of these 
were in turn simply copied from old books of miscel- 
laneous " receipts/' or newspapers in which every so- 
called new discovery is announced as infallible, or as 
if it had been tried and tested to perfection. That I 



INTRODUCTION ix 

have not recklessly accumulated in this fashion all 
kinds of recipes to fill my pages will appear very 
plainly to every chemist or technologist, who will per- 
ceive that, proceeding from a comprehensive table of 
generally recognised and long-tested bases of cements, 
I have given deductions and combinations scientifi- 
cally agreeing with their laws and with experiment. 
The true object of giving a great number of recipes 
has not been solely or simply to supply the house- 
keeper or mechanic with instructions for certain re- 
pairs, but also to suggest to the technologist and in- 
ventor new ideas and applications. Thus, when we 
know that given proportions of zinc in powder, silicate 
of soda, and chalk form a strong cement, resembling 
zinc, it is as well to suggest that this may be varied 
by employing other metals and substances, such as 
bronze-powders and mineral oxides, to be always pre- 
ceded by a little experiment. I venture to say that 
any intelligent person who masters this work can, on 
this hint, make for himself innumerable inventions ; 
and I am sure that there is not the editor of a single 
technological journal who will not testify to the fact 
that every year a great many patents are taken out 
and fortunes made from recipes which are neither so 
scientifically combined nor practically useful as those 
which I here give. That there are fortunes still to be 
made is abundantly proved by the fact that there are 
very few people, comparatively speaking, who know 
where to get or how to make waterproof glue, or how 
to mend with it, neatly and durably, shoes, um- 
brellas, and many rents in garments ; how to unite a 
broken strap ; mend, by felting, torn hats ; rehabili- 
tate perfectly worm-eaten and torn-away paper ; re- 



k INTRODUCTION 

store decayed broken wood ; or mead, in fact, any- 
thing- except with common glue or mucilage — both of 
which soon give way and crack or melt. So long as 
such general ignorance prevails, just so long there 
will be an opportunity tor the inventor to make and 
sell cements, and tor the repairer to find employment. 
1 call special attention to the tact that this book con- 
tains no merely traditional, untested recipes which 
have been simply transferred from one Housekeeper's 
Manual to another for generations. Where I have 
not been guided by my own personal experience — 
which is, I venture to say, not very limited — I have 
either followed truly scientific works, such as the 
three hundred volumes of the Chemical-Technical 
rary of A. Hartleben ; or, when citing from 
older authors, have in variably given recipes which 
agree with the anced by modern anal- 

ysts and inventors. And though not a prefesse 
chemistry, ye:, as I studied it and natural philosophy 
in my youth under 1 G in, L. Passelt, and 

Pi otessor J asr.PH Henry, I trust that I have been sutri- 
tly cur.. avoid errors in what I have writ- 

ten. In short, that I ha recklessly accumul 

every recipe which I could find, and that what I give 
really trustworthy, will appear plainly to the 
gist, ve that, pro- 

ig from a given table of generally recognised 
and long-tested bases ol cements, xc. I have then 
given as ana c itions scientifically 

a. with their laws and with experiment. My 
book is not ay . . or of hack-work, 

nany years /:' pracl 
experience r arts and industries, on which 



INTRODUCTION xi 

subject alone I have published twenty-two works, 
without including pamphlets, lectures, and at least 
one hundred letters or articles in leading magazines 
and newspapers. There is, in short, very little 
mending or making described in this book which I 
have not at one time or other personally effected, hav- 
ing had all my life a passion for mending and restor- 
ing all kinds of objects, and that scientifically and 
thoroughly. 

As I have observed, there is in every household 
continual breakage of many kinds — M or of the rend- 
ing which cries for mending" — it is a matter of some 
importance that some one in the family should pay 
special attention to such matters. How often have I 
seen very valuable objects stuck together — anyhow 
and clumsily — with putty, wafers, sealing-wax, glue, 
flour-paste, or anything which will " hold" for a time, 
when a perfect cure might have just as well been 
effected had the proper recipe been taken to the first 
chemist. This is equally true as regards taking ink 
or stains out of garments, or repairing the latter per- 
fectly, or mending shoes or indiarubber cloth, or 
felting worn hats and many other articles, all of which 
are treated of in this work. 

It is true that everybody is not naturally ingenious, 
or clever, or gifted, but all may become skilful mend- 
ers if they will duly consider the subject (which re- 
quires no hard study) and experiment on it a little. 
And here I would seriously address a few words to 
all who are interested in education. There is a cer- 
tain faculty which may be called constructiveness, 
which is nearly allied to invention, and which is a 
marvellous developer in all children of quickness of 



xii INTRODUCTION 

perception, thought, or intellect. It is the art of 
using the fingers to make or manipulate, in any way ; 
it exists in every human being, and it may be brought 
out to an extraordinary degree in the young, as has 
been fully tested and proved. Now, if we take two 
children of the same age, sex, and capacity, both 
going to the same school and pursuing the same 
studies, and if one of the two devotes from two to 
four hours a week to an industrial art class (i.e., 
studying simple original design, easy wood-carving, 
repousse, embroidery, &c), it will be found — as it has 
been by very extensive expeiiment — that the latter 
child will at the end of the year excel the former in 
#// branches of learning ; that is to say, in arithmetic 
or geography, so greatly does ingenuity proceed from 
the fingers to the brain. Now, mending is so nearly 
allied to all the minor or mechanical arts, it enters 
into them so closely, that it in a manner belongs to 
and is an introduction to them all. Like them, it 
stimulates invention or ingenuity, and is perhaps of 
far greater practical utility or direct use. Boys and 
girls learn very willingly how to mend, and, from a 
long experience in teaching them, I should say that a 
class with experiments and practical instruction in 
what is given in this book should take precedence of 
all carpentry, metal-work, joining, leather-work, or 
any other branches whatever. For it is easier than 
any of them, and it is of far more general utility, as 
the following pages clearly show. Such teaching 
would cost next to nothing for outfit, and would be 
the best introduction to technical education of all 
kinds. 

There is an immense amount of breakage in this 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

world, yet, as a French writer on the subject observes, 
there are more great artists than good menders j the 
latter being so extremely rare that proofs of it are 
seen in bungling restorations in every museum in 
Europe, and in the almost impossibility of finding 
(out of Italy) men who can perfectly mend first-class 
ceramic ware. We see this ignorance in reproductions 
of delicate ivory ware coarsely cast in gypsum, and in 
a vast rejection and destruction of antiquities in w r ood, 
stone, or ceramic ware, simply because they are most 
ignorantly supposed to be beyond repair when they 
might, with proper knowledge, be very easily and cheap- 
ly restored, to great profit. And if the reader will 
visit the " dead rooms" of any museum in Europe 
and then study this book, he will find ample con- 
firmation of what I say. 

And here I would mention that every collector or 
owner of any kind of works of art, of bric-a-brac, or 
curiosities, who will master the art of mending, can 
find an illimitable field for picking up bargains in 
almost every shop of antiquities in Europe, especially 
in the smaller or humbler kind. For it is very far 
from being true that these dealers know " how to 
mend everything ;" on the contrary, I have often 
found them very ignorant indeed of mending, and 
have frequently instructed them in it. Thus I now 
have before me a " Holy Family" of the early six- 
teenth century, bas-relief in stamped leather, twelve 
inches by eight, for which I paid two francs, but 
which I might have had for one, it being utterly 
dilapidated, and apparently of no value. In two or 
three hours I restored it perfectly, and it would now 
sell for perhaps a hundred francs. By it hangs a 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

"Madonna and Child," painted on a panel, gold 
ground, fourteenth century, which, including a very 
broad and remarkable old frame, I purchased both 
for twelve francs. The panel was warped like a sabre, 
^^^__^, the colour and gesso ground badly scaled 
away in many places. It was split in two pieces ; in 
short, it appeared to be nearly worthless. Now it is 
in very good condition, and would be an ornament to 
any gallery. As regards repairing ceramic ware or 
china, glass, and porcelain, art has of late years made 
remarkable advances, this kind of mending being the 
most in requisition. As for old carved wood, no 
matter how badly broken it may be, eaten away by 
worms, or rotten, or even wanting large pieces, so 
long as its original form is evident, it can be very 
easily repaired or restored to all its original beauty 
and integrity, as I shall fully explain. In this alone 
there is a vast field for investment or money-making, 
because there are annually destroyed almost every- 
where quantities of old wood-carvings ; for, being 
badly worm-eaten, they are ignorantly supposed to 
be irreparable. The same may be said of ancient 
carved ivories, which are ready to drop at a touch 
into dust, as were those from Nineveh in the British 
Museum, yet which are now firm and clear, It is also 
true of the bindings of old books, many of marvellous 
beauty, whether of stamped leather, parchment, or 
carved. Even more interesting and curious is the 
repairing or restoring worm-eaten manuscripts or 
papers of any kind, or parchment, the easy process 
of filling the holes not being known to many bib- 
liophiles. This art is becoming known in Germany, 
where it is not unusual to buy an old book for a 



INTRODUCTION xv 

mark, rebind it in hard old parchment, repair it gen- 
erally for two or three, and then sell it, according to 
the subject, for several hundred or thousand per cent, 
profit. 

It is greatly to be regretted that it is so little 
known, especially in England, that to repair a few 
holes or restore a little broken, crumbling carving it 
is not absolutely necessary to tear down an entire 
Gothic church and build a new one, as is so very gen- 
erally the case. There is no stone-work, however 
dilapidated it may be, which cannot be mended very 
perfectly, and that in almost all cases with a material 
which sets even harder than the original, as was per- 
fectly shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Dilapi- 
dated stone carved work, of all ages and kinds, which 
could be perfectly restored to a degree which even 
very few artists suspect, abounds in Italy, where it 
can be purchased for a song. The song, it is true, is 
generally sung to a small silver accompaniment, but 
the purchaser may make it golden for himself. For 
very few know how to restore a knocked-off nose so 
that the line of juncture be not visible ; yet even this 
is possible, as I shall show. And I may here remark 
that in all the first galleries and museums of Europe, 
without one exception, there is abundant evidence to 
prove that, of all the arts, the one of repairing and 
restoring is the one least understood and most strange- 
ly neglected. 

There is hardly a village so small that one man or 
woman could not make in it or eke out a living by re- 
pairing different objects. In towns and cities the de- 
mand for such work is much greater, for there ladies 
break expensive fans and jewellery, and children 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

their dolls and toys, for mending of which the " re- 
habilitators" require " much moneys," especially in 
the United States, where prices for anything out of 
the way are appalling. 

I would therefore beg all people who are gifted 
with some small allowance of " ingenuity," tact, art, 
or common-sense to consider that Mending or Restor- 
ing is a calling very easily learned by a little practice, 
and one by which a living can be made, even in its 
humblest branches, as is shown by the umbrella- 
menders and chair-caners in the streets. But com- 
mon-sense teaches that any one who shall have mas- 
tered all that is explicitly set forth in this book ought 
certainly to be able to gain money, even largely ; for, 
as I said, the opportunities of purchasing dilapidated 
works of art, mending and selling them, are innu- 
merable, and Restoration is as yet everywhere in its 
mere rudiments and very little practised. That which 
might be a very great general industry of vast utility, 
employing many thousands now idle, only exists in a 
hap-hazard, casual way, as dependent on other kinds 
of work. But to me it appears as a great art by it- 
self, dependent on certain principles of general appli- 
cation. And when we consider what is generally 
wasted for want of proper knowledge of this great 
art, it seems to me to be but rational' that if we had 
in London a school for teaching mending and restor- 
ing in all its branches as a trade, with a museum to 
show the public, probably to its great astonishment, 
what marvels can be wrought by renewing what is 
old, it would be of great service to the country at 
large. A vfery little reflection will convince the least 
visionary or most practical reader that what is wasted 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

or annually destroyed of valuable old works, which 
cannot be replaced, because they are no longer manu- 
factured, if restored, would form the basis of a great 
national industry. It has not as yet, however, en- 
tered into the head of any one to conceive this, sim- 
ply because no one has ever been educated as a gen- 
eral restorer, but only in a secondary, supplementary, 
small way as a specialist, generally as a botcher. 
And I maintain, from no inconsiderable knowledge 
of the subject, that the best menders and restorers 
by far are those who understand the most branches 
of their calling. The reason for this is plain ; it is 
because a repairer, when he comes to some unfore- 
seen difficulty— for example, in mending china — and 
rinds the cements used are not exactly applicable, he 
will, if sensible, think of some other adhesive used in 
other kinds of work, or other combinations or appli- 
ances. 

I go so far as to say that an exhibition of specimens 
showing all that can be done in mending and restora- 
tion in ceramic art, leather, carved stone, books, 
carved and wrought wood, castings, metal, furniture, 
fans, and toys, would probably serve as sufficient be- 
ginning to establish classes and a school. The ob- 
jects should, when possible, be accompanied by a 
duplicate or photograph showing the condition they 
were in before restoration, on the principle of the 
picture-cleaners, who amaze the public with such 
startling contrasts of dirt and splendour. 

How this can all be done will be found in this book, 
which I venture to suggest will often be found useful 
in every family, or wherever " things" are broken 
and worn. For the collector of curiosities who would 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

willingly pick up bargains, I seriously and earnestly 
commend it as a vade mecum by means of which he 
may literally make money in any shop. For, as I 
have already said, strange as it may seem, the small 
dealers in bric-a-brac are generally very ignorant of 
all the curious secrets of restoration, or else they have 
no time or means to attend to such work. Again, if 
the collector has learned what I here teach, he will 
often detect restoration allied to forgery in expensive 
antiques, guaranteed to be perfect. It has been well 
observed by M. Ris-Paquot, in his valuable work, 
L? Art de restaurer sot-mime les Faiences et Porcelaines, 
that it often happens, most unfortunately, that pre- 
cious relics whose value is immense, such as the Ital- 
ian faiences and those of Palissy or Henri II., come to 
collections in such a condition, so pitifully injured, 
that de visu we cannot buy them because we know of 
nobody who can actually restore them, and because 
this delicate work requires so much special knowl- 
edge. Add to this, that their great value and rarity 
disincline us to trust to the first-comer, or general 
workman, treasures which he might utterly ruin by 
clumsiness or ignorance. 

I may add that I seldom walk out in Florence with- 
out seeing old worn faiences for sale for a mere trifle 
which with a little retouching, gilding, and firing 
could be made quite valuable. In such instances 
there need be no complaint of destroying the ven- 
erable effect and value of antiquity. In them an- 
tique material may be legitimately employed as a 
basis for newer work, especially when it is broken 
away, worn down to the core, or full of holes. Now, 
with what this book teaches in his mind, the artist or 



INTRODUCTION xix 

tourist will very soon realise, if he be at all ingen- 
ious, or can avail himself of the aid of some friend 
who has even a very slight knowledge of art, that he 
can at a slight outlay purchase objects which will be- 
come very valuable when afterwards restored at 
home. 

As I can imagine no head of a family, and no dealer 
in miscellaneous works of art or any small wares, no 
provider of furniture or furnisher, to whom this work 
will not be a most acceptable gift, so I am very con- 
fident that every traveller who has trunks to mend or 
broken straps to join, and every emigrant roughing 
it in the forests or the bush of Australia or Canada, 
may learn from it many useful devices, and the fact 
that with nothing more than a small tin of liquid 
glue and another of indiarubber he can effect more 
than could be imagined by any one who has not 
studied the subject. On this I speak not without 
experience, having found that, both as a soldier and 
a traveller in the Wild West of America, my knowl- 
edge of mending was of great use to my friends as 
well as myself. A perusal of the Index of what is 
here given will satisfy the reader that this manual is 
in fact a vade mecum for almost all sorts and condi- 
tions of men and women, and that there are none 
who would not be thankful for it. 

A friend adds to these remarks the suggestion that 
this work may properly be included among the pres- 
ents to a bride as an aid to housekeeping ; and it will 
probably be admitted that it would prove quite as 
useful as many of the gifts which are usually be- 
stowed on such occasions. 

I have truly said that, while breaking and decay 



xx INTRODUCTION 

are universal, there are literally nowhere any gener- 
ally accomplished repairers — that is to say, experts 
who know and can practise even what is set forth in 
this book. Certain menders of broken china there 
are, of whom the great authority on fictile restora- 
tion, Ris-Pasquot, declares that none can be trusted 
with anything valuable. There are so few needle- 
women who can sew up a rent perfectly that a lady 
"to the manor born" paid in Rome two pounds, or 
fifty lire, for being taught the stitch, described in 
this book, by which it can be done. That it was a 
great secret to an expert and accomplished needle- 
woman proves that it cannot be generally know T n. 
A house-furnisher in London doing a large business 
once explained to me with manifest pride how he 
had, by dint of persuasion and treating, obtained 
from another what is really one of the simplest 
recipes for restoring a brown stain. All of this being 
true, it is apparent enough that any accomplished 
mender and restorer, lady or gentleman, can hardly 
fail to make a living by the art ; and I sincerely be- 
lieve that it is the simple truth that it is set forth in 
the following pages so fully and clearly that any one 
who will make the experiment can learn from it how 
to make a living. This is effectively, in all its ful- 
ness, a new art and a new calling, and it is time that 
it were established. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that manufacturers 
are necessarily good menders of what they make. I 
have found, as have my readers, that it is not the 
great watchmaker who oversees the production of 
thousands of watches to whom a watch can be most 
safely trusted for rehabilitation. For, in nine cases 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

out of ten, it is some extremely humble brother of 
the craft, who does nothing but mend in a small shop, 
who restores your chronometer most admirably. The 
same is true as regards trunks anywhere out of Eng- 
land, since in Germany and France anything of the 
kind is invariably botched with incredible want of 
skill. This runs through most trades ; for which 
reason I believe that a really well-accomplished gen- 
eral mender, earnestly devoted to the calling in every 
detail and resolved to be perfect in it, could ere long 
repair better than most manufacturers, since the lat- 
ter, in these days, all work by machinery or by vast 
subdivision of labour, and not, so to speak, by hand. 
But all repairing must be by hand. We can make 
every detail of a watch or of a gun by machinery, but 
the machine cannot mend it when broken, much less 
a clock or a pistol ! 

The value of this book will appear to any one who 
knows how little really good repairing there is in 
Europe. Since writing the foregoing pages I have 
gone through the galleries of the Vatican and many 
other museums, and been amazed at the coarse, igno- 
rant, and bungling manner in which the great majority 
of antique statues and other objects of immense value 
have been mended up. There is in most cases no 
pretence whatever to conceal the lines of repair, and 
when this has been attempted it has failed through 
ignorance of recipes and instructions which may be 
found in this work. 



A MANUAL OF 

MENDING AND REPAIRING 

MATERIALS USED IN MENDING 

" There are full many admirable and practical recipes 
(Hausmitteln), which are often known only in certain 
families." — Die Natiirliche Magie. By Johann C. 

Wiegleb, 1782. 

The art of mending or of repairing may be broadly 
stated as being effected, firstly, by mechanical proc- 
esses, such as those employed by carpenters in nail- 
ing and joining, in embroidery with the needle, and 
in metal-work with clumps, or soldering ; and, sec- 
ondly, by chemical means. The latter consist of 
cements and adhesives, which are, however, effectively 
the same thing. This glue, or gum, is an adhesive 
or sticker; that is, a simple substance which causes 
two objects to adhere. The same, when combined 
with powder of chalk or glass, would be a Cement. 
This latter term is again applied somewhat generally 
and loosely by many, not only to all adhesives, but 
also more correctly to all soft substances which 
harden, such as Portland cement, mortar, and putty, 



2 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

and which are often used by themselves to form ob- 
jects, such as " bricks" and castings ; but these lat- 
ter, having also the quality of acting as adhesive? or 
stickers, are naturally regarded as being the same. 

As will be speedily observed in the great number 
of recipes for mending which will be given in this 
book, there are many which occur frequently in dif- 
ferent combinations ; therefore it will be advisable 
and indispensable for those who wish to master mend- 
ing as an art to indicate these as a basis. 

As Sigmund Lehner has observed in his valuable 
work on Die Kitte- tend Klebetnittel, there have been 
such vast numbers of recipes published of late years 
for adhesives in various technological works, that the 
combination of the usual materials depends almost on 
the judgment of the experimenter, and every practi- 
cal operator will soon learn to make inventions of his 
own. These materials, according to Stohmann, may 
be classified as follows : — 

I. Those in which Oil is the basis. 

II. Resin or pitch. 

III. Caoutchouc (indiarubber) or gutta-percha. 

IV. Gum or starch. 
V. Lime and chalk. 

Lehner extends the list as follows into adhesives, 
or cements : — 

For glass and porcelain in every form. 
II. For metals not exposed to changes of tempera- 
ture. 



MATERIALS USED IN MENDING 3 

III. For stoves and furnaces, or objects exposed to 
heat. 

IV. For chemical apparatus and objects exposed to 
corrosive liquids. 

V. Luting or cements, to protect glass or porcelain 
vessels from the action of fire. 

VI. Cements for microscopic preparations, for fill- 
ing teeth and similar work. 

VII. Those for special objects, such as are made of 
tortoise-shell, meerschaum (ivory), &c. 

Oils are divided into those (such as olive) which 
never become hard, and the linseed, which in time 
dries into a substance like gum. The latter combined 
with a great variety of mineral substances, such as 
plumbago, calcined lime, magnesia, chalk, red oxide 
of iron, soapstone, or with varnishes, forms insoluble 
" soaps," which, as cements, resist water. They re- 
quire a long time to set or become hard. 

Resins and Gums include a great number of sub- 
stances, such as resin or hard pitch, which is distilled 
from pine-trees ; shellac, mastic, elemi, copal, kauri 
gum, amber, gum arabic, dextrine made from flour, 
the gum of the peach and cherry, and of many other 
trees. To these may be added frankincense and 
tragacanth, which is less an adhesive than a stiffener 
and dresser. Gums are generally rather brittle ; this 
is remedied by combination with oily substances, vola- 
tile oils, or caoutchouc. With these gums Lehner 
includes asphaltum. The defect of such adhesives 
is, as he also remarks, that they will not resist high 
temperatures. This, however, will apply to most ob- 
jects. 



4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Varnish. — This belongs properly to the gums, but 
is technically regarded as a separate material. It is 
gum in solution in turpentine or spirits. For details 
vide Die Fabrikation der Copal- Terpentindl tend Spiritus- 
Lacke, by L. E. Andes ; Leipzig, price 5 m. 40 pf. 

Caoutchouc and Gutta-Percha are gums which 
when hard are still elastic, and resist the action of 
water. I have read that a perfect imitation or sub- 
stitute for them has been made of turpentine, but have 
not seen it, though I have met with glue made with oil 
and turpentine, which very much resembled them in 
elasticity or flexibility. Reduced to a liquid form 
with ether, benzine, &c, these gums can be kept in a 
liquid state for a long time, and then hardened in any 
form by exposure to the air. They enter into a very 
great variety of cements, such as are meant to be 
tough or waterproof. Indiarubber is, on the whole, 
the best, and gutta-percha the cheapest, for cements. 

Glue. — This is made, by boiling, from horns and 
bones ; it is essentially the same as gelatine. It is 
the most generally known of all adhesives, and may 
be modified by certain admixtures to suit almost any 
substance. It has the peculiarity that it must always 
be boiled in a balneu??i maricz, or in a kettle in hot 
water in another kettle. Its strength is vastly in- 
creased by admixture with nitric acid or strong vine- 
gar. On the subject of glue in all its relations, the 
reader may consult Die Leint- und Gelatine- Fabrikation, 
or " The Manufacture of Glue and Gelatine," by F. 
Dawidowsky ; Vienna, price 3s. 

Flour-Paste and Starch-Paste. — These mix- 
tures, though generally used for weak work, such as 
to make papers adhere, can be very much strength- 



MATERIALS USED IN MENDING 5 

ened by admixture with glue and gums. Combined 
with certain substances, such as paper, mineral pow- 
ders, and alum, they, when submitted to pressure, be- 
come intensely hard, and resist not only water but 
heat, when not excessive. Also combined with var- 
nishes they are decided resistants. Lehner speaks 
of them as if they were perishable in any condition. 

Sturgeon's Bladder. — With this the bladders of 
several kinds of fish are classed. Cut in small pieces 
and dissolved in spirits it makes a very strong adhe- 
sive, which is mixed with many others. 

Lime is the most extensively used cement in the 
world. Combined with water it forms mortar. It is 
united with many substances, such as caseine or 
cheese, the white of eggs, and silicate of soda, to 
make powerful minor cements. On the subject of 
lime the practical technologist should consult Kalk- 
und Luftmortel, by Dr. Herrmann Zwick ; Vienna, A. 
Hartleben, price 3s., in which all details of the sub- 
ject are given in full. 

Eggs. — The yolk, and more particularly the white, 
of eggs is sometimes used as an adhesive, and it 
enters into many very excellent cements. For de- 
tails as to the chemistry and technology of this mate- 
rial consult Die Fabrikationen von Albumin- und Eier- 
konserven (A Full Account of the Characteristics of all 
Egg Substances, the Fabrication of Egg, and Blood 
Albumen, &c), by Karl Ruprecht ; Vienna, A. Hart- 
leben, price 2s. 3d. 

Neutral Substances, or Binding Materials. — 
Almost any substance not easily soluble in water, 
and many which are, from common dust or earth, 
or clay, sand, chalk, powdered egg-shells, sawdust, 



6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

shell-powder, &c, when combined with certain adhe- 
sives, form cements. This is sometimes due to chem- 
ical combination, but more frequently to mechanical 
union. In the latter case the adhesive clinging to 
every separate grain has the more points of adhesion, 
just as a man by clinging with both hands to two 
posts is harder to remove than if he held by one. 

Caseine or Cheese. — This in several forms, but 
chiefly of curd in combination with several substances, 
but mostly with lime or borax, forms a very valuable 
cement. It is also combined with strong lye and sili- 
cate of soda. It must not, however, be too much de- 
pended on as a resistant to water or heat. 

Blood, generally of oxen or cows, combined with 
lime, alum, and coal ashes, forms a solid and durable 
cement. 

Glycerine forms the basis, with plumbago, &c, of 
several cements. Like oil, it renders glue flexible 
and partly waterproof. For chemical details on this 
subject, vide Das Glycerm y by J. W. Koppe, Leipzig. 

Gypsum is combined with many substances to form 
cements, some of them of great and peculiar value. 

Iron pulverised is the basis of a great number of 
very durable and strongly resistant cements. 

Alum may be included among the bases, as it is 
very important in several compositions, forming a 
powerful chemical aid. It is excellent as aiding re- 
sistance to both moisture and heat. For an exhaus- 
tive work on alum consult Die Fabrikation des Alauns^ 
&c, by Frederic Junemann, which should be care- 
fully studied by all who work in cements. 

There is a very great number of " indifferent" or 
minor aids to these, such as sugar, milk, honey, spirits 



MATERIALS USED IN MENDING 7 

of wine, water, ochre, galbanum, tannin, ammonia, 
feldspar, plumbago, sulphur, vinegar, salt, zinc (white), 
umber, bismuth, tin, cadmium, clay, ashes, &c, 
which are essential in certain combinations. 

Dextrine, the gum of flour or starch, or Leiokom, 
much resembles gum-arabic, but is more brittle. Its 
adhesiveness depends somewhat on the manner in 
which it is dissolved. "It is," says Lehner, " pre- 
pared by heating starch which has been moistened 
with nitric acid ; also by warming paste with very 
much diluted sulphuric acid." 

Wax, including that of bees as well as paraffine, is 
used in repairs, and forms a part of several cements. 
On this subject consult Das Wachs, or " Wax and its 
Technical Applications," by Ludwig Sedna ; Leip- 
zig, 2s. 6d. 

Silicate of Soda, or Liquid Glass. — This is gen- 
erally sold in the form of a very dense liquid. It is 
prepared by mixing quartz or flint sand with soda, or 
more rarely with potash. "It is," says Lehner, " a 
glass which is distinguished from other glasses by 
being easily soluble in water. It is believed to be a 
very modern invention ; but I have seen Venetian 
glasses of the fifteenth century which appeared to be 
painted with it, or something very similar ; and I 
have found decided indications of a knowledge of it 
in two writers of the sixteenth century, Wolfgang 
Hildebrand and Van Helmont. According to Wag- 
ner, there are three kinds of liquid glass. By itself 
liquid glass can only be used for mending glass ; but 
when combined with other substances, such as cement, 
calcined lime, or clay, or glass, in powder, it forms a 
body as hard as stone, or a double silicate, which is 



8 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

strongly resistant to chemical influences.' * It occu- 
pies the first position as an adhesive for glass, nor is 
it surpassed as a cement in solid form. On this sub- 
ject vide Wasserglas und Infusorienerde, &c, by Her- 
mann Kratzer ; Vienna, 3s. 

Natural Cement, or Hydraulic Lime. —This is 
familiarly known to all readers as Portland cement, 
but it is found of different qualities in many coun- 
tries, and is also made artificially. Certain mineral 
substances have the quality when powdered and com- 
bined with water of setting hard as stone ; hence the 
name hydraulic. I have seen at Budapest articles of 
Portland cement made in Hungary which equalled in 
appearance fine black slate or marble, and, while 
much less brittle, were indeed in every respect more 
durable and resistant to exposure. These artificial 
cements can be largely incorporated with indifferent 
substances, such as sand ; they, however, require in- 
tense baking, and may in consequence be regarded as 
a kind of fictile ware. 

Portland cement is very thoroughly treated in Hy- 
draulischer Kalk und Portland Cement (in all their rela- 
tions), by Dr. H. Zwick. 

Tragacanth, though called a gum, is properly 
nothing of the kind, not being a true adhesive. It is 
the product of the Astragalus verus, a tree found in 
Asia. It swells out in water, and softens, but with- 
out dissolving. It is more of a glaze than a paste ; 
hence it is used extensively by confectioners, book- 
binders, or to stiffen laces. It enters, however, into 
the composition of several cements. 

Bread may be classed as a material by itself, as it 



MATERIALS USED IN MENDING 9 

derives certain peculiar virtues from the yeast which 
causes its fermentation. With certain combinations 
it becomes wax-like, or hard, and may be used to ad- 
vantage in many repairs as well as for modelling. It 
has the great advantage of being easily worked and 
always at hand. 

Celluloid is treated of in this work under the head 
of Artificial Ivory. It is made from gun-cotton and 
camphor. For full information on this subject con- 
sult Das Celluloid, or " Celluloid, its Raw Materials, 
Manufacture, Peculiarities, and Technical Applica- 
tions, &c," by Dr. Fr. Bockmann, Vienna and 
Leipzig. 

Potatoes, peeled and mashed, and kept for thirty- 
six hours in a mixture of eight parts of sulphuric acid 
to a hundred of water, and then dried and pressed, 
form a white, hard substance very much like ivory, 
or, as one may say, like white boxwood. Lehner 
expresses his doubt as to whether artificial meer- 
schaum pipes were ever made of this substance, but 
I have seen them, and can testify that they looked 
like meerschaum, and certainly were much harder 
than bruyere, or briar-wood. Whether they will 
" colour" I cannot say. 

The principle by which potatoes, paper, and many 
other substances can be hardened like parchment or 
horn is curious. Potatoes consist of about seventy 
per cent, water and twenty-five per cent, of starch, 
the remainder being salts and cellulose, which forms 
cells surrounded by the grains of starch. "When 
such a substance is for some time brought into con- 
tact with diluted sulphuric acid, that which results is 
simply a contraction of the cells" (i.e., a hardening), 



io A MANUAL OF MENDING 

"or a kind of parchmenting." Thus soft paper is 
converted into parchment. 

It is evident that chemistry is as yet in its infancy 
as regards the conversion of cellulose by acid into 
hard substances. Since cotton, paper, and potatoes 
all produce by this process different substances, it is 
probable that hundreds of organic, or at least vege- 
table, substances will all yield new forms. 

There is a marked difference between paste made 
of starch or flour, each having its peculiar merits. 
The former is principally prepared from potatoes. 
To prepare the cement we mix it with a very little 
water, stirring it very thoroughly till it assumes a 
bluish appearance. A little more hot water is then 
added, and the mass left till an opal-like tinge indi- 
cates that it has formed. To this then add hot water 
ad libitum. As it is almost colourless in very thin 
coats, it is largely used to glaze and give body or 
weight to, and often to simply falsify, woven fabrics, 
which by its aid seem heavier. To increase this 
weight white lead and other substances are used. 

To make the best flour-paste, flour should be knead- 
ed in a bag under water till all the starch is washed 
away. What remains is a substance closely allied to 
caseine, or the white of egg. Combined with lime it 
forms a hard cement. A very slight admixture of 
carbolic acid (also oil of cloves) will keep paste from 
souring or decay. This acid has the property of de- 
stroying the growth of the minute vegetation which 
constitutes fermentation, just as other strong scents 
or perfumes are supposed to disinfect rooms, &c. 

A very great number of other ingredients, such as 
the oxides of lead or zinc, manganese, baryta, sul- 



MATERIALS USED IN MENDING n 

phur, sal ammoniac, flint-sand, clay, salt, ochre, var- 
nish, galbanum, or frankincense, enter into certain 
recipes, but those already given may be regarded as 
constituting by far the principal portion of all cements 
in ordinary use. 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, PORCELAIN, 
CROCKERY, MAJOLICA, TERRA-COTTA, 
BRICK AND TILE WORK. 

Fictile or Ceramic ware embraces, roughly speaking, 
all that is made of clay, or mineral bases or materials, 
and which is subsequently baked to give it hardness. 
The better the material and the more intense the heat, 
or the greater the number of bakings to which most 
kinds are subjected, the harder and more lasting will 
they be. The old china ware which preceded porce- 
lain, a great many specimens of old Roman vessels, 
and, for a more modern example, old Italian majolica 
and Hungarian wine-pitchers, made all within a cen- 
tury, are as hard as stone. They chip a great deal 
before they break, just as agate might do. 

Terra-cotta is simply earth or clay " baked.' ' 
In most of the examples known as terra-cotta, earth 
predominates. Pure fine clay well fired is superior 
to what is generally called terra-cotta. Neither can 
we really class with it articles made of superior Port- 
land cement, of which, as I have said, I have seen 
many made at Budapest which were like the finest 
hard slate. 

Many writers confuse majolica with faience ; others 
regard the latter as what we should call crockery, or 
such ware as ranges between glazed terra-cotta and 
porcelain. 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 13 

Majolica consists generally of terra-cotta covered 
with a glaze. A glaze is a fusible substance, we may 
say a kind of glass, mixed with colouring matter, 
which is at the same time a protection and an orna- 
ment. Enamel is glass in fine powder melted, used 
generally on metal or by itself. The base of the 
paint is a substance fusible by heat which is mixed 
with colours also fusible. Therefoie when the paint- 
ing is submitted to heat it melts, adheres, and is per- 
manent. Glazing, enamelling, and china painting 
are essentially the same. 

Terra-cotta is not difficult to mend. I can best 
illustrate this by an example. A friend once gave me 
a terra-cotta vase from the Pyramid of Cholula, in 
Mexico. These are supposed to be of very great an- 
tiquity. This contained a fragment of pottery, prob- 
ably a sacred relic of ruder style, and I suppose of far 
earlier times. The vase, however, had been broken 
to fragments, and the owner was about to throw it 
away as worthless. I begged it of him. Firstly, I put 
the principal pieces together, using, to make them 
adhere, glue with nitric acid. For finer work I should 
have used Turkish cement or the best gum-mastic 
dissolved in spirit or fish glue. Piece by piece with 
care I reconstructed the whole. 

There was wanting, however, one piece about three 
inches square. I pasted with great care a piece of 
paper inside the vase for a back, and then poured on 
it plaster of Paris liquefied with water. To make this 
set hard, the plaster or gesso should be made with 
burnt alum-water and dissolved gum-arabic. This 
exactly supplied the missing piece. 

When it was finished, I filled in all the broken edges 



i 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

and other cavities with the plaster-paste, which set 
even harder than the terra-cotta. The outer colour 
of the vase was of reddish rusty black. I painted 
the whole over with a corresponding colour ; that 
is to say, I rubbed it in by thumb, which is very dif- 
ferent from mere painting. By cementing and 
rubbing I so restored the whole that the repair 
was hardly perceptible. This process is carried 
to great perfection in Italy with broken Etruscan 
ware. 

I may here remark as regards rubbing in oil or water 
colours, that it is little known or practised, but it is of 
great value in restoration when we wish to produce 
certain curious antique-looking effects. I once knew 
in Rome an artist who had bought for a trifle an old 
carved baule or chest. By rubbing in with care on it 
Naples yellow and brown shades, and subsequent 
friction, he had made it look strangely like old ivory. 
Mere painting, however skilfully performed, would 
not have given it its antique ivory look. The same 
artist had purchased one or two common, large, yel- 
lowish terra-cotta wine-jars. He drew on them clas- 
sical figures, cut out the outlines a little with chisel 
and file, and smoothing the figures with sandpaper, 
also ivoried the whole by rubbing in colour. This was 
but a few hours' work, yet the effect was startling. 
What had cost but a few francs would have sold for 
hundreds. I should add that with the aid of fine re- 
touching flexible varnish this process could be very 
much facilitated. Any one who can draw or paint at 
all can try this experiment on any old piece of wood- 
carving, or on a common yellow coarse earthenware. 
Smooth the latter first with sandpaper, then rub in 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 15 

the colours. The same is applicable to old carving 
in marble. 

All of these devices are of use to the restorer. As 
regards restoration of terra-cotta, the field is wide 
and profitable. Not only in Italy, but even in Lon- 
don, we may find for sale broken Etruscan vases or 
similar objects for a trifle, which are extremely easy 
to restore. These are generally of red or light yel- 
low clay baked. If you have, let us say, a vase frac- 
tured, obtain clay of the same colour — if you cannot 
readily get it, take pipeclay — and colour it with a 
strong infusion of red or yellow, though this is not 
necessary if the exterior is black. Mix the clay well 
with glue or gum-arabic and alum-water, supply the 
missing portions, and let them harden. With a little 
care and practice, remarkable restorations may thus 
be made. I may here add that with this composition, 
bottles, decanters, and cups can be coated, which, 
when painted or rubbed in, exactly resemble Etruscan 
or other ancient pottery. To prevent cracking, they 
should first be painted with thick, coarse oil paint 
mixed with sand or umber, which forms a ground. 
Let it dry — the longer the better — and then rub in, 
thinly, the gum and clay. There is another composi- 
tion of blanc d y Espagne^ or whiting, and silicate of 
soda, which sets even harder, but which is a little 
more difficult at first to work, which may be used for 
such restoration. This can be directly painted on 
glass for a ground. 

Majolica or Faience can generally be sufficiently well 
mended with acidulated glue, but as the latter often 
communicates a dark stain, it is better to use for fine 
ware, or any which is to be used, the so-called Tuikish 



ip A MANUAL OF MENDING 

cement. The best quality of tins is made of the finest 
quality of gum mastic dissolved in spirit. It is so 
tenacious that in the Kast gemsare frequently directly 
attached by means of it to metal, ami they will often 

break sooner than separate from it. Most chemists 
have for sale, or will prepare for you, some form of it 
The silieate of potash and whiting cau also be sup- 
plied by chemists ; they should be mixed with great 
eaie, so as to form a medium paste, and then used 

rapidly ami with skill, because this cement hardens 

very quickly. It is. however, a very powerful binder. 

and sets as hard as glass, 

Having put together ami cemented the broken 
pieces of a eup or vase, they must be kept in plaee till 
the cement dries. This is effected by means of manv 

contrivances, regarding which the operator must em- 
ploy some original inventiveness* Firstly, the pieces 

Can often be simply tied, or attached by pieees ot 
tape, or parchment, or paper glued on. In other eases 
india-rubber bands are useful. Again, bits of wood, 
or stieks and wires, are the things useful. A bed oi 
Wax is generally a sure guard. It is best to do this 
with great eare, and not impatiently rely on holding 
the pieees together with the fingers till they stiek. 
Thisisoften the -/.vest difficult part of the whole opera- 
tion; therefore it should be done well and deliber- 
ately And here it may be remarked that, as in sur- 
gery, the most complicated cases of fracture may be 
studied out and, adjusted ; for which reason 1 ( 
Say that skilful surgeons would be good menders of 

crockery, just as good astronomers are always g 
i iflemen, 

VVhen the broken pieces ate adjusted and all is dry. 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 17 

there remain the chips, hollows, ragged edges, and 
"hairs," as the French call them, or lines of junc- 
ture, to be filled and smoothed. This is done with 
the cement which you employ, according to the qual- 
ity of the material, either plaster and gum-arabic, sili- 
cate and whiting, or powdered chalk. Some experts 
succeed with white of an egg and finely powdered 
quicklime, which holds firmly, but which requires 
practice to amalgamate. Fill the cavities carefully, 
pressing the cement well in, as the Romans did, with 
a stick or point. When ail is smooth, paint over the 
blank spaces and varnish with Sohnee, No. 3, or with 
a slight coating of silicate. Fine copal varnish is 
rather tougher or less brittle. 

The most thorough process of all is to unite the 
fragments with a vitreous or metallic flux, such as the 
silicate — there are several of these — and then have the 
work baked or fired. It can then be painted with 
porcelain colours under glaze, and fired again. As 
this is very delicate, difficult, and expensive, few 
amateurs will care to try it. It is, however, perfect, 
and by means of it the most complete reparation can 
be effected. The Japanese do this simply with the 
blow-pipe, by means of which they fix enamel pow- 
ders even on wood. This use of the pipe is also diffi- 
cult, but the ancient Romans are said to have em- 
ployed the process with most minor work. As a 
thread of glass will melt in a candle, and as fine-glass 
powder is equally fusible, it can be understood that 
under the flame of a blow-pipe the latter can often 
be melted so as to avail in restoration. 

Crockery, or Faience, and Porcelain. — " Crock- 
ery," by which we commonly understand such ware 



18 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

as that of the blue willow plates, is far superior to 
terra-cotta, since its core or basis is thin, and very- 
hard, and its gloss of a different description, and more 
incorporated with the body ; or it is of a single supe- 
rior body. 

Porcelain differs entirely from the other two kinds 
of fictile ware, being an elaborate mineralogical com- 
pound, its base being kaolin, a friable, white, earthy 
substance, requiring great care in its preparation, and 
petunse, or feldspar, which is united with the kaolin. 
The result is a very delicate and beautiful diaphanous 
ware, or one through which light passes to a limited 
degree. Both crockery and porcelain are far more 
difficult to mend, owing to the impossibility — particu- 
larly with the latter— of making fractures disappear. 

The first and most simple process of mending both 
kinds of ware is to make small holes with a drill 
along the edges of the fracture, and then, adjusting 
the fragments, bind them together with wire. M. 
Ris-Paquot claims that " the honour of this discov- 
ery belongs properly to a humble and modest work- 
man named Delille, of the little village of Mont- 
joye, in Normandy." But the archaeologist will say 
of this claim, as the English judge did of a similar 
one, that the plaintiff might as well apply for a patent 
for having discovered the art of mixing brandy with 
water, since there was probably never yet a savage 
who had wire, or even string, who did not know 
enough to mend broken calabashes, jars, and pipes 
by this solid method of sewing. From the time when 
large earthen punch-bowls were first used in Europe, 
we find them mended with silver wire. It is needless 
\o devote whole pages with illustrations, as M. Ris- 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 19 

Paquot has done, to show how to effect such mend- 
ing. The holes are made with either a bore or hand 
drill, such as can be bought in every tool shop. If 
the reader will obtain one and experiment with it on 
any penny plate or broken fragment, he will soon 
master all the mystery. The wire is made fast by a 
turn with a pair of nippers or pincers. Before fasten- 
ing, wash the edges of the ware with white of egg in 
which a very little whiting, or finely powdered lime 
or plaster of Paris, has been mixed. 

I may here observe that the wire for china-drilling 
should be half round, or flat on one side. To pre- 
pare this, take brass wire, say a length of about two 
feet, and, holding an old knife, draw the wire firmly 
and steadily against it. 

There are endless cements for sale by chemists, all 
warranted perfect, to mend glass and china, and most 
of them do indeed answer the purpose very well, for 
nature has given us not a few materials wherewith to 
repair accidents. Thus, even boiling in milk will 
often suffice to reunite broken edges. But I believe 
that of all, the Turkish cement already described, 
which is made of gum mastic (a term improperly ap- 
plied in France to putty, by Americans to lime-plas- 
ter on houses, and by Levantines to spirit with resin 
in it), is the most adhesive and resistant to heat, cold, 
or moisture. 

The art of mending does not consist so much of 
knowing what to use for an adhesive (since, as I have 
said, every chemist's shop abounds in these) as in skill 
and tact with which fragments are brought and kept 
together, missing portions supplied, and in knowing 
the substance with which to fill a blank. There are 



20 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

cases in which, when a hole has been knocked in a 
china or glass plate, it can be drilled out round, and a 
disc of the same substance or colour, or even of another, 
inserted. This is almost an art by itself, and by means 
of it very singular and puzzling effects may be intro- 
duced ; as, for instance, when a number of holes are 
drilled in a white china plate and then filled with 
discs of coloured china, agate, coral, &c. In the 
East, turquoise and coral beads are often thus set into 
porcelain, as well as wood. The mastic or acidulated 
glue is used to make the objects inserted hold firmly. 

As the smoker, when he breaks his pipe across the 
stem, has it repaired with a short silver slide or tube, 
so when a china jar is broken across the neck, the 
reparation can be concealed by a silver collar, which 
is sometimes a great improvement ; as, for instance, 
w T hen the head of a china dog, or even of a china man, 
is taken off. But in a great many cases, or in all 
where this kind of concealment is advisable, it may 
be made, like Caesars wife, beyond suspicion, by 
making the collar or concealing ornament, or leaf or 
flower, of silicate and whiting so as to resemble the 
ware itself, which can be done very nicely. 

Silicate of Soda is sometimes sold in the form of 
a dry solid, which is placed in a little vinegar, and 
warmed. When dissolved it can be used ad libitum. 
It is often used as a glaze for stone. 

There is a curious old story about mending broken 
crockery by means of magic — or rather by deceit — 
which, though not of a practical nature, is at least 
amusing. It is partially told in a book published 
about 1670, entitled Joco-Seriorum JVaturce et Artis 
Magicz Naturales Centuries Tres. It happened once in 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 21 

Mergentheim that there was a great fair, when the 
whole couityard of the palace was full of earthenware 
vessels for sale ad assidentibus muliebibus (by attendant 
women). Seeing this, the Piince of Mergentheim 
went about among these women, and so arranged it 
that they divided all their stock into two parts, or 
exact duplicates, half of which they hid away, while 
the other half was exposed for sale. While at dinner 
the Piince spoke much of magic, and professed to be 
able to produce such a deliiium in people's minds 
that they would act like lunatics. " Thus, for in- 
stance/' he said, pointing casually out of the win- 
dow, " you see all those women. I can drive them 
mad at once. ,, Whereupon one who was present 
wagered a handsome carriage and four horses that 
the Prince could not do it. The latter smiled, waved 
his hand, and uttered a spell, when lo ! all at once 
the market-women began, bacchantium more — like rag- 
ing Bacchantae — to attack their crockery with sticks 
and stools, and huil it about, and dash it to pieces. 

The one who had betted the chariot protested 
that it was a trick arranged beforehand. The Prince 
replied, " Well, the pots are all broken. If I can 
mend them again by a spell, wilt thou then believe ?" 
The other said, " Most certainly." Then the Prince 
waved his wand and said, " It is done. Let us go 
down into the courtyard and see." And when there, 
sure enough they found the pots all whole again — at 
least they discovered others exactly like them in their 
places. 

The legend continued that the Prince, though he 
kept the carriage and horses as a trophy, liberally 
paid for them. The author of the Tres Centurice, who 



22 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

does not record the secret of the little arrangement, 
declares that he does not know whether it was all 
done by a fraud or by magic. If it was the latter, 1 
regret that the incantation by which broken crockery 
is mended is now lost. The most powerful spell 
known to me is Recipe Gummce Mastichce duce uncice cum 
Spirito Vint fiat mixtio- — that is, mastic cement. It is 
generally combined with sturgeon's bladder glue. 

This cement answers very well for glass. One of 
the old recipes, which was very good indeed, is thus 
given by Johannes Wallburger (1760): — "Take 
finely cut and a little powdered sturgeon's bladder" 
(still sold by all chemists), " soften it all night in 
spirits, add to this a little clean and powdered mastic, 
boil it a little in a brass pan. Should it become too 
thick, add a little spirits." This may be also used for 
many other purposes. 

A strong but coarser adhesive, especially for crock- 
ery and stone, can be made as follows : — Take old 
and hard goat's milk cheese, and warm it in hot water 
till it forms, by pounding, a mass like turpentine. 
Add to this, while grinding, finely pulverised quick- 
lime and the well-shaken white of eggs. 

I do not hesitate to give a variety of such recipes, 
because in every one the artist will find valuable sug- 
gestions for other purposes than simply glueing 
broken articles together. This latter is a valuable 
" filler" for many purposes. Glue was formerly 
made into a strong cement by boiling it for a time in 
water, but before it had become incorporated with the 
water, the latter was poured off and strong spirits 
substituted and stirred well in. 

A very popular old cement for crockery, of which 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 23 

there were several variations, was made by mixing 
glue, turpentine, ox-gall, the juice of garlic, and 
sturgeon-bladder, tragacanth, and mastic. All of 
this singularly smelling mixture was put into a pan 
and boiled in strong spirits, such as whisky, then 
kneaded on a board under a roller, again boiled with 
more spirits, yet again rolled, and this was repeated 
a third time, and then cooled till it could be cut into 
cakes. When these were tc be used they were again 
steeped in spirits. But with this cement, glass or 
metal could be most firmly attached to wood. 1 con- 
fess that I have never tried it, but it was evidently a 
very strong cement. 

Another of these somewhat complicated recipes for 
crockery, glass, and porcelain, which I find in the 
Tausandkunstler, 1782, is as follows : — Half an ounce 
of finely cut sturgeon's bladder, two teaspoonfuls of 
alabaster powder or gypsum, quarter of an ounce of 
tragacanth, one teaspoonful of silberglatt, two of pow- 
dered mastic, two of frankincense, two of gum-arabic, 
one of Marienglas, one tablespoonful of spirits of 
wine, one of beer-vinegar. Boil it and stir, and ap- 
ply. Any drops sticking to the mended article may 
be removed with vinegar. When it is to be used 
again revive it by heating, adding spirits of wine and 
beer-vinegar. The gum-frankincense is here worth 
noting. 

A common cement for mending broken glass or 
china is prepared as follows : — To two parts of gum- 
shellac add one of turpentine ; boil them over a slow 
fire, and form the mass into small cakes before it dries. 
To use it, warm with a lamp. To mend ivory or 
wood, take a cake and let it dissolve in spirits of wine. 



24 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

A very strong cement is made as follows : — Take 
one ounce of finely powdered mastic dissolved in six 
of spirits of wine and two ounces of shredded stur- 
geon's bladder dissolved in two ounces common 
spirits ; add one half ounce of gum-ammoniac as it 
hardens ; warm it when it is to be used. This is as 
strong a cement as can be made. 

Defects, cracks, and repairs in porcelain, &c, may 
often be concealed as follows : — Paint the spot with 
silicate of soda, not too much thinned, and dust it over 
before it dries with bronze powder. This will set so 
hard that it may be polished with an agate burnisher. 

It is also possible that many of my readers have 
heard of gesso painting, an art perfected by Mr. Wal- 
ter Crane. This consists of painting with plaster of 
Paris in solution, with the point of a brush, deposit- 
ing the soft paste in relief. The same principle is 
applicable to painting in silicate and whiting on glass 
surfaces. By means of it decoration can be given to 
any glass bottle or other object. 

Lime enters into the composition of many cements, 
the simplest being the mortar formed by its admix- 
ture with water. But the quality of this is very much 
determined by that of the lime. The chunam of 
India, which resembles white marble or a fine white 
stone, is made of sea-shells burned to lime. A won- 
derfully hard, fine, white cement used by the Romans 
for their best mosaic-work, and which set with great 
rapidity, was made of shell-lime with the white of 
e gg s - I have found the same composition worthless 
when made with inferior stone-lime. 

A good cheap cement for porcelain and glass is 
combined as follows : — 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 25 



Starch or wheat flour 


. 8 


Glue .... 


4 


Purified chalk . 


12 


Turpentine 


4 


Spirits of wine . . . 


.24 


Water . . . 


. 24 



Pour a part of the spirits and water mixed on 
the flour and chalk, add the glue, boil it down till 
the latter dissolves, and stir the turpentine into the 
whole. This can be used to make artificial wood 
with shavings or sawdust. 

A very good cement for porcelain, and one which 
is colourless, is made by cutting the finest clear gela- 
tine into bits, and dissolving it in vinegar of 50 , stir- 
ring it in a porcelain vessel until well mixed. When 
cold it will harden, but softens under the influence of 
heat, when it may be applied to the broken edges of 
the porcelain, which are to be pressed together. It 
will be perfectly hard within twenty-four hours. It 
is to be observed that the art of keeping such joined 
pieces together is the most difficult problem in mend- 
ing. This cement is widely applicable to many ob- 
jects, and also admits of considerable modification 
and additions, like all cements. As it is colourless, 
it may be combined with ivory dust, or white pow- 
ders of baryta, magnesia, whiting, &c, to form artifi- 
cial ivory with glycerine, With sturgeon's bladder it 
makes a still stronger cement. 

Lehner observes that glue has the property, when 
combined with acid chrome salt {sauren chromsalzeii), 
of losing its solubility when exposed to the light, so 
that it can be used as a cement for broken porcelain 



26 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

and glass. If the juncture is to be invisible, take the 
purest white gelatine ; otherwise the cheaper gilder's 
glue will answer. To prepare the chrome glue, dis- 
solve the gelatine or the glue in boiling water, then 
add the solution of double chromic acid alkali, or the 
red chrome alkali of commerce, stir it well up, and 
put it into tin boxes. 
The formula is : — 

Gelatine or gilders' glue . . 5-10 

Water ...... 90 

Red chrome alkali . . . 1-2 

Dissolved in water . . . 10 

To use, warm the cement, apply it to the broken 
glass, which must then be exposed for several hours 
to the sunshine. 

Cracked bottles are mended by a very ingenious 
process, described by Lehner. The bottle is corked, 
but not tightly, and then exposed to heat about ioo° 
centigrade. Then the cork is driven in tightly, which 
causes an expansion of the cracks, which are at once 
filled by means of a finely pointed brush with the 
silicate. Removed to a cooler place the glass con- 
tracts on the as yet fluid silicate, and the fractures 
are mended. 

A VERY STRONG, CLEAN CEMENT FOR PORCELAIN OR 

glass is made as follows : — 

Well-cleaned glass powder . . 10 

fluor spar powder . 20 

Silicate of soda solution , . .60 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 27 

This must be very quickly stirred and applied. 
This is one of the hardest and best cements, and it 
resists heat and other influences so well that when 
very carefully amalgamated it may be applied to the 
manufacture of many useful articles. The same may 
be made with the substitution of white pipeclay for 
fluor spar, or with the addition of the same in some- 
what larger proportion. Pipeclay or any good clay 
can also be combined with glycerine to prevent its 
drying. With gelatine and a little glycerine it will 
harden and not crack. 

This requires careful amalgamation and rapid work. 

To prepare very fine glass-powder for this cement, 
heat any glass till red-hot, then drop it into cold 
water. It may then be reduced in a mortar to an im- 
palpable powder. 

Earthenware tubes or pipes which are to be exposed 
to intense heat may be luted or joined with the fol- 
lowing cement : — 

Peroxide of manganese ... 80 
White oxide of zinc . . . 100 

Silicate of soda .... 20 

" This does not melt^ save at a very high tempera- 
ture ; and when melted it forms a glassy substance, 
which holds with extreme tenacity" (Lehner). 

To prepare caserne cement for crockery or marble, it 
may be observed that we should always take fresh 
white cheese and macerate or knead it thoroughly till 
only pure caseine remains. By adding to this one- 
third of powdered quicklime and blending the two 
ingredients very thoroughly we get a very strong 



28 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

glue. An admixture of 10 parts silicate of soda also 
forms a powerful cement. 

The following for tile-work and common brick- 
crockery, or terra-cotta or porcelain, is very highly 
commended by Lehner, who says that anything 
mended with it will sooner break in another place 
than where it is cemented : — 

Slacked lime ..... 10 

Borax ...... 10 

Litharge 5 

The cement is mixed with water, and the tile or 
crockery, &c, heated just before being mended. 

I cannot insist too strongly on this — that no one is 
to expect that by simply taking recipes, as written, 
compounding and applying them, there will be a 
successful result at the first trial. We must always 
have the best material, often fresh, and generally at- 
tempt the application more than once. Per sever ando 
vinces — " By perseverance you will conquer." Not 
only must the quality of the ingredients used be of the 
best, but the composition be made exactly in the 
order in which they are given. The same substances 
often give very different results, simply because the 
order of combination in the two was different. 

TO REPAIR PAVEMENTS : 

Calcined lime .... 10 

Purified chalk .... 100 

Silicate of soda .... 25 

This hardens slowly. It can, when mixed with 
small sharp-edged fragments of broken stone, be used 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC. 29 

to form pavements, or as a bed for mosaics. For the 
same purposes, or for cementing marble slabs, a 
cement known as that of Bottger may be used. It 
is made thus :— 

Purified chalk .... 100 

Thick solution silicate of soda . 25 

This becomes (Lehner) in a few hours so hard that 
it can be polished. It is the principal, and almost 
the only, cement used by M. Ris-Pacquot, or com- 
mended in his work on mending crockery. It admits 
of a great variety of modifications. It is very supe- 
rior as a bed for mosaics of all kinds. It forms, like 
the preceding, also a good bed for scagliola and 
ceresa. 1 I would here say of the latter, that I could 
wish to see it more generally used for mural or wall 
ornament, since any one who can paint a face or deco- 
ration boldly and largely in oil or water colours will 
find it very easy. It admits of rapid execution, and 
is striking from its brilliancy. Everything in it de- 
pends on having a good bed to which it can easily" 
adhere. I may here observe that beds like these 
which set hard and fine are also adapted to fresco- 
painting, in which the difficulty is to select colours 
which, when absorbed and dried, do not fade. Most 
paints made from mineral substances combine with 
silicate of soda. 

1 may here remark that a curious and easy art, very 
little known, consists of carving or cutting low reliefs 
on tiles or terra-cotta or brick-like ware, which, when 

1 Ceresa is the setting of powdered glass of different colours 
in a cement bed. Mosaic cubes are often combined with it. 



3 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

outlined or in relief, can be glazed in colour with 
silicate of soda ; also with many other cements. 

A common and good cement for porcelain or 
glass is made as follows :- — 

Calcined gypsum or plaster of Paris. 50 
Calcined lime . . . . .10 
White of egg ..... 20 

This must be quickly mingled and rapidly used, as 
it sets very rapidly and becomes extremely hard. It 
makes an admirable bed for mosaics or ceresa. 

When plaster of Paris is simply combined with 
burnt alum in water, the objects mended with it re- 
quire several weeks to set or adhere. Gypsum com- 
bined with gum alone holds firmly, but does not re- 
sist water (vide General Recipes). 

Cements for luting or closing chemical appa- 
ratus : — 

Dried clay ..... 10 

Linseed-oil ..... 1 

This endures heat to boiling-point of quicksilver. 
A more resistant fireproof is as follows : — 

Manganese . . . . .10 

Grey oxide of zinc . . . .20 

Clay . . . . . .40 

Linseed-oil varnish .... 7 

Of the oil only so much is needed as to combine 
the mass to a paste. 

A luting for very high temperatures : — 

Clay ...... 100 

Glass powder . . . ... 2 



MENDING BROKEN CHINA, ETC, 31 

Another cement :— 

Clay ....... 100 

Chalk . . . . 2 

Boracic acid ..... 3 

Lehner has in his work on Cements many valuable 
suggestions as to mending porcelain. Firstly, that in 
such mending, the adhesive be applied with care, in 
as even and as thin a coat as possible ; to which I 
would add, that the unskilful amateur is apt to daub 
it on irregularly and carelessly, with the impression 
that the more cement there is the better it will stick, 
which is just so far wrong that every superfluous 
grain is just so much of an impediment to good dry- 
ing or adhesion. Again, the inexpert daubs it on 
with a stick or " anything," when a fine-pointed 
brush or hair-pencil should be used. 

Broken china which is to be mended should be 
carefully covered away so as to protect it from dust, 
which is hard to clean off. Beware of fitting the 
pieces together again and again, as is often done. 

If the broken china was used to contain milk or 
soup, &c, it should be laid in lye to dissolve all the 
fatty substance, and then be washed with clear water. 
Painted porcelain cannot, however, be laid in lye, 
which would ruin all the colours ; in this case wipe 
them clean with dilute acid. 

The great difficulty in mending is to bring the 
pieces together and keep them so till the adhesive 
dries. Lehner recommends that when objects are 
small and costly, a mould of gypsum be constructed 
round them. In most cases putty or wax is far more 
manageable. As before remarked, indiarubber bands 



32 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

are chiefly to be relied on ; even if not capable of 
holding permanently, they aid greatly in tying with 
cord. 

In the Manual of F. Goupil, rewritten by Freder- 
ick Dillaye, the following method of restoring 
broken vases, &c, is commended : — 

" Form a solid mass of clay in the form of the orig- 
inal object. Then place on it, one by one, the frag- 
ments in their place, keeping the clay moist. When 
this is done, paste over the exterior strips of paper, 
in sufficient quantity to hold the whole firmly to- 
gether. Then remove the moist clay, and paste 
strong slips of paper" (or thin parchment) " over the 
interior so as to hold the whole. Then" (when dry) 
" carefully moisten and remove the outer coating. " 

The author mentions that this is only applicable to 
vases the mouth of which is wide enough to peimit 
the hand to be introduced. I would here, however, 
add, that even when it is too small for this purpose, 
the restoration can be equally well effected as fol- 
lows : — Make the core of wet clay, or, better, of bees- 
wax, then paste over it thin tough paper. Cover this 
with gum-arabic solution, and set the pieces on it. 
When dry, melt out the wax or clay. 

Fish-gum, colle de poisson — that is to say, what is 
generally called sturgeon' s bladder, which includes the 
bladder of several kinds of fishes dissolved — is best 
for glass, marble, porcelain, and all kinds of mending 
where the cement should not show. This, when com- 
bined with oil, is said, if mixed with cloth-dust and 
fibre of wool or silk or cotton, to spin up into thread. 



MENDING GLASS 

WITH SEVERAL ALLIED PROCESSES 

APPROVED CEMENTS— SILICATE OF SODA 

" Gliick und Glas 

Wie bald bricht dass." 

" Good luck, like glass, 
Soon breaks, alas ! 
Yet skill can bring it so to pass 
As to mend a fortune or a glass. 1 ' 

— Old German Proverb. 

Putty is naturally the first cement which suggests 
itself in connection with the mending of glass, since 
this latter material is most familiar to the world in 
the form of windows, although in many places — as, 
for instance, Florence, where it is called mastico and 
pasta — it is little used or known. The word is from 
the French pote'e, which also means a potful. It is 
very useful, not only for setting glass-panes, but for 
filling holes in wood, and forms a part of certain mix- 
tuies as a cement for moulding ornaments. It may 
be weak and brittle, or else strong and very hard, 
according to the manner in which it is prepared. It 
is commonly made by combining chalk in paste, with 
water, with linseed-oil ; other powders are also used. 



34 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



In Ameriea it is made with pulvetised soap-stone and 

oil. its excellence depends on the quality of the oil* 
and the care with which it is kneaded, It should be 
kept in a damp cellar, in wet cloth or underwater. 
Should it dry and become brittle, fresh oil must be 

Aolelcd. 

To take ha ■ d . >ld pa ttyj ■ . >/// g/ass ic'inJow-f>ancs y cover 
it with a mixture o( one part of calcined lime, two of 

soda, nno\ tWO of Water 11 (LEHNER), Oxide 4 of lead 

combined with oil makes aw excellent but yellow 
put t v. It sets very hard, 

The white o\- grey oxidc^ o( /ine combined with lin- 
seed oil ov linseed oil varnish makes a cement which 
is used for making glass adhere to wood or metal. 

/"./. i lacquers ) such as copal or amber, may be used 
instead o\ eommon varnish with better effect, and the 

Composition is better when Calcined lime ^v oxide 4 o\ 
lead are added, The e'xeellenee of the cement de- 
pends on tin 4 degree to which the ingredients are 
amalgamated ^v rubbed in together; and this rule 
holds good for all similar mixtures, 

Vat -::s\ or heavy ov " flat" lacquer o\ copal or am- 
ber, forms o\ itself a strong adhesive, with the only 
drawback that it takes a long time to dry, 

A vi'KY coo\^ CEMENT FOR GLASS (LEHNER) is as fol- 
lows ; 



Gutta pei cha 

Black pitch (asphalt) 

Oil oi tu rpent ine 



lOO 

i oo 

*5 



This is a glue ^( general application, <\no\ specially 
good for leather and mending shoes, 
The ieadei who would thoroughly study the subject 



MENDING GLASS 35 

of glass may consult Die (lias- Fabrikation y a very ad- 
mirable work by Raimund Getner, glass manufac- 
turer ; A. I lai 1 leben, Vienna and Leipzig, price 4s. (><\. 
Small triangles of sheet tin or iron arc often used 

to fasten panes. 

The mending of broken glass is in most cases much 
the same as that of broken crockery or porcelain. 
The cement made fiom mastic, or mastic combined 
with sturgeon's bladder, or generally of silicate with 
whiting, is the proper adhesive. As silicate of soda 
is simply liquid glass, it can be employed to (ill spaces 
or to make glass ; but, owing to its sticky nature, it 
is hard to manage. This may be often effected by 

first preparing a layer of soft paper, on which suc- 
cessive coats of silicate are laid. When dry the paper 
can be washed away. 

Silicate of Soda has become of such importance 

that a French work on meiiding fictile ware is almost 
entirely limited to its use as a binder, when combined 

with whiting. Water-glass was long supposed to be 

a modern invention, till some one found it described 
in Van Ilelmont's works, A.D. c6l0. But I have 
found it also in the Joco-scriorum Natural, 1545 ; in the 

Magia Naturalis of Wolfgang Hildebrand, which is of 
the same time ; and, finally, by Paracelsus [Liber de 
Prceparationibus)) where he describes it as Destillatio 

Crystatti. And the author of the J oco-sc riorum speaks 
of soft glass as a thing which had been treated by 
several writers. 

According tO WAGNER there are three kinds of solu- 
ble glass — (i.) the soluble potash glass, 45 si lex, 3 

charcoal, 34 carb. potass.; (ii.) soluble soda glass, 
100 pts. quartz, 60 cal. sulp, soda, 15 of charcoal; 



36 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

(iii.) double soluble glass, ioo quartz, 22 cal. soda, 28 
carb. potass., 6 wood-coal. Water-glass combines 
well with any " indifferent' ' powder, such as powdered 
glass, to make a strong cement. To powder glass, 
heat it red-hot, drop it into cold water and pulverise 
it. It will become as fine as flour, and in this state 
combines with gum-arabic, or glue, or gums to make 
a powerful glass-mender. Mixed with powdered 
glass, oxide of zinc, or whiting, powdered marble, 
calcined bone, plaster of Paris, wood-ashes, &c, 
it can be worked like putty. Mixed with colours 
it is used for stereochrome painting, a kind of 
fresco. 

Missing pieces of glass, such as leaves from a chan- 
delier, can be easily replaced with water-glass, and 
all cracks or defects glazed over with. it. 

This mending is allied, however, to certain proc- 
esses in ait which are so interesting that I ventuie 
on a description of them. 

A great deal of mending and restoring in glass can 
be effected by means of the blow-pipe and spitit-lamp 
or gas-flame. Difficult as this may sound, it is not 
only an easy, but also a very curious and entertain- 
ing, occupation. In any city an expert or workman 
may be found who would give a few lessons. I have 
very often been impressed with the fact that so little 
artistic invention or originality is found in glass-work. 
Even the far-famed Venetian work is extremely lim- 
ited, and " mannered' ' or conventional, compared to 
what it might be. 

The following is an old recipe for repairing glass : 
— Take finest powdered glass, best mastic, with equal 
parts of white resin and distilled turpentine. Melt 



MENDING GLASS 37 

all well together. To use, gradually warm it and 
then apply. 

Quicklime and white of egg, intimately rubbed into 
one another on a flat surface, make a good cement 
for ordinary glass or pottery. 

The cement of gum-arabic is much stronger when 
made as follows : — Take gum-arabic and dissolve it 
in acetic acid (vinegar) instead of water. It must be 
melted in a hottish place, as it will in that case be 
much better. The finest quality of sheet-gelatine 
makes a transparent glue, invaluable where colour is 
to be avoided. 

To MEND A CRACKED GLASS BOTTLE OR DECANTER. 

— Heat the bottle, pressing in the cork, till the hot 
air within expands the cracks, which must be at once 
filled with the liquid glass. Then, as the water-glass 
is driven in by the pressure of the outer air, as the 
bottle cools the cracks are closed. 

You cannot well mend a broken looking-glass, but 
something can be done with the large pieces. Var- 
nish or paste a piece of paper and lay it on the quick- 
silver. Then with an American glass-cutter, price 
one shilling, or a diamond-cutter, divide them into 
squares for small mirrors. Two of these of equal 
size can easily be converted into a folding kaleido- 
scope (not described by Brewster in his work on the 
Kaleidoscope). Lay the two pieces face to face, and 
paste over the whole, on the quicksilvered side, a 
piece of thin leather or muslin. When dry, with a 
penknife, cut a slit down between the two on three 
sides. It will then open and shut like a portfolio. 
This may serve as a travelling, looking or shaving 
glass, but it is very useful to designers of patterns. 



38 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Place the glass upright on a table at a right angle, or 
more or less, and lay between the mirrors any object 
or a pattern, and you will see it multiplied from three 
to twelve times, according to the angle. JBeautiful 
variations of designs can thus be made, ad infinitum,. 
They may be used as reflectors, when placed behind 
a light. 

Take such a piece of looking-glass and lay a piece 
of paper on the back, and then with an agate or ivory 
point write or draw on it, but not as hard as to break 
the silvering. Then turn it to the sun or a strong 
light, and let the reflection fall on a white surface. 
Though nothing be perceptible on the face of the 
mirror, the writing will appear in the reflection. 

Glass is engraved as metal is etched ; with this ex- 
ception, that, instead of sulphuric or nitric acids, 
fluoric acid is used. Both glass and china can also be 
directly etched with a steel point, aided by emery 
powder ; which latter art I have never seen described, 
but which I have successfully practised. It is fully 
set forth in my forthcoming work on " One Hundred 
Arts." 

Malleable glass, or at least that which does not 
break easily when let fall, is prepared by dipping the 
objects made from it, while quite hot, into oil. I con- 
jecture that panes of window-glass thus prepared 
would not be broken by hail, as I have observed that 
plate-glass is not. 

It sometimes happens that goblets of thin glass — 
especially those which have had a peculiar kind of an- 
nealing or tempering — ting beautifully when blown 
on so as to vibrate them. The effect is almost magi- 
cal on one who hears it for the first time. I mention 



MENDING GLASS 39 

it that the reader may, when he finds old Venetian or 
any other thin glass goblets for sale, see if there be 
not among them a finely ringing one. An organ 
could be thus made to play by wind. With regard 
to music on glass, take any ordinary bottle, and by 
rubbing on it a cork a little wetted you can, with a 
little practice, produce a startling imitation of the 
chirping, and even warbling, of birds. I knew one 
who could thus imitate to perfection nightingales and 
call forth responsive songs. The effect depends in a 
degree on the quality of the cork, and also that of the 
glass. With a violin-bow very musical sounds may 
be drawn from the edge of a pane of glass. It seems 
as if these methods might also be developed into musi- 
cal instruments. It is well known that tubes of glass 
suspended when a candle is placed beneath them give 
forth musical sounds, often of great richness and 
strength. There are also the musical glasses, which 
may be played in two ways, either by rubbing the 
edges with a wetted finger or by filling the glasses 
more or less with water till an octave is formed, and 
then tapping them with a stick of wood. All of 
which has, indeed, nothing to do with mending glass, 
yet which may not be without interest to those who 
wish to learn all its qualities. 

Among Glass Cements in common use which can 
be recommended are the well-known Polytechnic, 
also the Imperial Liquid Glue (no heating required), 
Hayden & Co., Warwick Square, London. There is 
also a very good glass cement made and sold by Keye, 
filter-maker, Hill Street, Birmingham. 

The Venetians made ordinary glass goblets very 
beautiful by painting on them in relief with a sub- 



4 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

stance which I suspect was in some cases a form of 
silicate, or else with a kind of paint which was not 
enamel, yet which seems to have been partly vitreous. 
It rather resembles oil paint with glass powder, but 
I doubt if it was this. 

Working in glass implies the mending and restora- 
tion of stained-glass windows ; that is, of painting on 
glass and a study of designs. Of all this there is 
almost a literature. Among other works I can com- 
mend A Book of Ornamental Glazing Quarries, by A. W. 
Franks, £1, is.; Divers Works of Early Masters in 
Ecclesiastical Decoration, by Owen Jones, £$>■ ios.; 
Westlake } s History of Stained Glass, vol. i., Fourteenth 
Century, 13s. 6d.; vol. iii., Fifteenth Century, 18s., pub- 
lished by Batsford, 52 High Holborn. At Rimmel's, 
in Oxford Street, the reader can generally obtain 
these, and all works on similar subjects at prices 
much below the original cost. 

A mending cement for glass is made as follows : — 

Common cheese .... 100 

Water ...... 50 

Slacked lime . . . . .20 

This is found in many books of recipes. It must 
be observed that the cheese is to be for sometime 
carefully pounded with the water till quite soft, and 
the lime then very quickly stirred in. This is not only 
useful to mend glass, but can be applied to many 
other purposes. The cheese is best when fresh. 

Caseine (or pure cheese) can be combined with 
ease with liquid silicate of soda (Lehner), and thus 
forms a very strong cement for porcelain or glass, or 



MENDING GLASS 41 

any other material. Fill a flask with one-fourth of 
fresh caseine to three-fourths of silicate, and shake it 
thoroughly and frequently. 

Another formula is as follows : — 

Caseine ...... 10 

Silicate of soda . . . .60 

This must be used very promptly, and the article 
mended dried in the air. 

A cement which may be used in several combina- 
tions is made by dissolving fresh acidulated caseine 
(made by adding vinegar to milk, and carefully wash- 
ing the deposit) in a very little caustic lye. It must 
be kept corked in bottles. 

These caseine or cheese or curd cements hold well, 
but do not well resist water, except in powerful com- 
bination. 

The excellence of cements depends to a great de- 
gree on the quality of the materials and the scrupulous 
observance of care in making. Thus for the follow- 
ing, for glass : — 

Glue ...... 200 

Water ...... 100 

Calcined lime . . . . .50 

in which w T e have one of the commonest and oldest 
formulas, the value depends on " the make-up ;" that 
is, the glue must be left in cold water for two days, 
then boiled in a balneum marice, or a double kettle, in 
lukewarm water ; that is, it must not boil, or the 
glue will be weakened. 

The so-called Diamond or Turkish Cement, for 



42 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



glass or any other fine work, has been known since 
early times as incredibly strong. Its formula, accord- 
ing to Lehner, is as follows : — 

I. Sturgeon's bladder , 
Water 

Spirits of wine 
II. Gum-mastic . . . .10 
Alcohol . . . . .80 
III. Gum-ammoniac ... 6 



20 

140 

60 



These are three separate portions, No. I. being pre- 
pared by warming and filtering. The gum-ammoniac 
is reserved from the others, and added after they are 
mingled. 

A STRONG BASE FOR A CEMENT FOR GLASS, as Well as 

wood or stone, is made by gradually Stirling finely 
sifted wood-ashes into silicate of soda, or strong acid 
glue, till a syrup-like substance results. In America 
the best ashes for this purpose are those of the hick- 
ory. Perhaps beech wood yields them equally good. 
There is a Diamond Cement which is of special 
value to attach gems to rings or metal, to make coral 
or pearl or ivory adhere together, and, in short, for 
all fine work where a very strong adhesive is required. 
It is as follows : — 



Sturgeon's bladder 
Gum-ammoniac . 
Galbanum . 
Spirits of wine . 



1 
1 

4 



The sturgeon's bladder is cut into small pieces and 
steeped in the spirits, and the rest, in solution, then 
added. It must be warmed again when used. 



MENDING GLASS 43 

As this cement will bear long exposure to moisture 
before being at all injured by it, it can be used as a 
medium for painting on glass, and thereby producing 
effects very little inferior, either as regards beauty or 
durability, to glass itself. The experiment can be 
easily tried, as any chemist can make up the recipe. 
When finished, the painting can be coated with liquid 
silicate of soda, which will give it all the property of 
glass. 

A lime cement for glass is made as follows : — 

Calcined lime . . . . -3° 

Litharge ...... 30 

Linseed-oil varnish .... 5 

Jewellers' cement. Extremely strong : — 

Fish-glue solution . 100 

Mastic varnish (pure) ... 50 

The fish-glue must first be dissolved in spirits of 
wine. 

To join Glass and Metal, &c. — Stir slacked and 
powdered lime in hot glue. This sets as a very hard 
substance. It can be extensively modified and varied 
for many substances, and used for painting. 

Cement for glass : — 

Gum-arabic . . . . .50 

Sugar . . . . . .10 

Water . . . . . . 50 

Oil of turpentine . . . .10 

The gum, sugar, and water are first carefully com- 
bined, and then the turpentine well stirred with the 
mixture. 



44 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Salle's cement for glass : — 

Muriate of lime . . . . 2 

Gum-arabic ..... 20 
Water . . . . . .25 

Not commended by Lehner, as being too soluble. 

TO CLOSE BOTTLES I — 

Powdered resin . .6 

Caustic soda . . . . .2 
Water . . . . . .10 

To be thoroughly mixed and left for several hours. 
Before using, stir well into it eight to nine parts of 
calcined plaster of Paris. This will in half-an-hour 
take firm hold or " set," and is waterproof. A good 
filler for cracks. 

The reader who desires to be perfectly informed as 
to glass in all its relations can obtain, by application 
to J. Baer, Rossmarkt, Frankfort on the Main, Ger- 
many, a catalogue which is perhaps the most exten- 
sive on the subject ever published. 

Coloured or stained glass windows may be repaired 
or made by the following process, which has the ad- 
vantage of being quite as durable as any in which the 
colours are burned in : — Take two panes of glass, and 
paint on one your pattern with fine varnish and trans- 
parent colour mixed. When dry, go over the whole, 
with a broad, soft brush, with a liquid mastic cement, 
which must be quite transparent and thin. Any- 
transparent strong cement will serve, but it is advisa- 
ble to use the mastic in all cases as a narrow border 
and at the edges. If you have an engraving, espe- 
cially one on very soft spongy paper, take a pane of 



MENDING GLASS 45 

glass, cover it with a coat of varnish, and just before 
it dries press the engraving face down, on it. When 
quite dry, with a sponge slightly damped and the end 
of the finger, peet away all the soft paper, leaving the 
lines of the engraving. These may now be coloured 
over, with even very little skill and caie. A very 
good effect may be produced, so that a very indiffer- 
ent artist can in this way produce very tolerable pic- 
tures. Then, to better preserve this, double it with 
the other pane. 

By painting and shading also on this second pane, as 
I have discovered, very beautiful and striking effects 
of light and shade can be developed, so that this 
forms, as it were, a new art by itself. This will re- 
mind the reader of the porcelain lamp-shades, which 
so much resemble pictures in Indian ink ; but the 
effects of the double panes are more singular and far 
more varied. There may be even a third pane em- 
ployed. As the materials for this art are far from ex- 
pensive, and as it is extremely easy, I have no doubt 
that it will be extensively practised. Protecting one 
glass picture by another is not a new art ; but I am 
not aware that the obtaining a series of lights by thus 
reduplicating the panes has been practised. 

A modification of it is as follows : — Cut out several 
panes, corresponding to the size of the two glass 
covers, of quite transparent paper or parchment, pre- 
pared by rubbing with oil or vaseline, lard, or the 
like. Paint on these the required modifications of 
the picture. The advantage of this is, that a great 
many shades can thus be given in a thinner space, 
creating an astonishing effect. As this is not at all a 
mere imitation of stained glass, and as it produces 



46 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

effects not to be found in the latter, it may rank as an 
art by itself. The chief of these effects is relief, espe- 
cially shown in the human figure. But the most ex- 
traordinary are the variations of chiaroscuro which 
it affords, by availing himself of which the artist may 
create or obtain striking suggestions for oil or aquarelle 
pictures ; for these transparencies can be so infinitely 
and ingeniously varied that no one can fail to derive 
from them many ideas. 

This may be tested by simply preparing any pic- 
ture, say of a statue, a castle on a rock, or a face. 
Cut out from sheets of the same size in very transpar- 
ent paper a series of shadows adapted to it, and ad- 
just them. They may be all in monochrome or one 
colour, or in many hues. They may range, with 
proper care, from almost imperceptible shadow to 
opaque black. By beginning with only two stencils 
or shaded pictures — for as regards these the artist 
must be guided by his own skill — and gradually in- 
creasing the number, the proper adjustment will soon 
be found. I advise the beginner in copying to 
proceed from monochrome to two colours before 
attempting many. Teachers in aquarelle will find 
that such copies are — after a certain degree of pro- 
ficiency shall have been obtained — much superior 
to those commonly used, as they come nearer to 
nature. 

The most perfect form of this curious art is an im- 
provement which, I believe, is my own invention. 
This consists of introducing leaves of painted mica 
between the two glasses. In this way four grades or 
tones of colour and light and shade can be made in a 
picture. Mica-leaves can be made into one by using 



MENDING GLASS 47 

mastic cement. Rub the edges with emery-paper to 
roughen them. 

As I have already intimated, the materials for this 
work are so cheap and the process so easy, that all 
which I here assert may be at once verified by the out- 
lay of a few shillings, with a few hours of time. It 
is, in another form, the same thing as arranging lights 
aiound a statue in a dark room, but adapted to all 
kinds of pictures. 

As a Latin poet has declared, "It is an easy thing 
to add to arts," when a beginning has once been 
made (" Invent is facile semper ' aliquid adder e"), so I will 
add to this a curious discovery in glass made by me 
in Venice a few years ago. I was being taken by Sir 
Austin Layard over his celebrated glass-factory. It 
was he who, with the aid of -Sir William Drake, first 
revived the almost forgotten manufacture of glass in 
Murano. While standing with him by a furnace 
watching a workman skilfully forming ornaments in 
glass, it suddenly occurred to me that the Chinese 
were said to have possessed in remote times an art, 
now lost, of making vases or bottles which appeared 
externally to be quite plain, but on the surface of 
which, when red wine was poured in, patterns or in- 
scriptions appeared of the same colour. It at once 
occurred to me that this could be perfectly effected by 
making a bottle, on the interior of which the ground 
should be of considerable thickness, say half-an-inch, 
while the inscription or pattern would be no thicker 
than ordinary window-glass. Then if the whole ex- 
terior were to be lightly ground on a wheel or sand- 
papered, the difference between ground and pattern 
would not be perceptible until red wine or some 



48 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

highly coloured fluid were poured in, when the pat- 
tern would at once show itself. 

Sir Austin Layard was so much struck by the 
suggestion that he sent at once for his foreman, Sig- 
nore Castellani, who said that he had heard of such 
bottles, but always supposed it was a fable. He, 
however, at once admitted that they could be made 
as I proposed, but added that the expense would be 
so great as to render the invention practically useless. 

It has, however, since occurred to me that such 
bottles could be made, and cheaply, as follows : — 
Take a Florence flask, and divide it into two parts 
with a diamond, using a saw for the bottom. Then 
on the sides within place the ground. It could be 
made of silicate of soda and powdered glass or flint, 
or even of white wax, hardened with powdered glass. 
Close the bottle with silicate, and grind the whole. 

When any glass has been broken and mended, the 
fracture still discernible may be thus concealed by 
grinding the surface, and in many cases by surround- 
ing it with a ring or tube of metal, also by one of sili- 
cate, or with an ornament formed with it. 

A glass stopper when too large can be easily filed 
down to fit. Should the neck of the bottle be too 
narrow, it can also be enlarged by the same process. 
When the rim of a goblet is fractured, it can be ground 
down on a grindstone. I have done it with a file. 

A pane of glass can be somewhat rudely cut into 
shape with a pair of strong scissors, under water. In 
this, as in other things, practice leads to perfection. 

An old method of effectually closing bottles of wine 
was as follows : — The edge of the opening on the top 
was ground down on a stone, and a small disc of 



MENDING GLASS 49 

glass was exactly fitted to it. Heat was then applied 
till both were in partial fusion and the cover was 
welded to the bottle. A little powdered glass would 
aid the fusion, or it could be effected with silicate 
without heating. The process is the same as using 
glass stoppers, rather sunk in, and sealing up with 
silicate. 

A broken champagne bottle is not easily mended, 
but I have seen one curiously utilised. The bottom 
only had been broken, and it was cut off round and 
evenly with a file. Within it there hung from the 
cork by a cord a very large nail or small bolt of iron. * 
Thus prepared, it made a capital and appropriate 
dinner-bell. Here in Italy I have often seen bells 
made of crockery or terra-cotta ; their tone is better 
than would be supposed. 



WOOD-SHAVINGS 

IN MENDING AND MAKING MANY OBJECTS 

" In human industry, there is on an average a loss 
of fifty per cent, in labour or material.'' — Observa- 
tions on Art, by Charles G. Leland. 

There is no country in the woild in which the art of 
mending is so much required as in the United States 
of North America. The reason for this is the ex- 
traordinary and sudden changes in temperature, caus- 
ing the expansion and contraction of cells and fibre, 
especially in wood, which results in cracks. Thus 
seasoned furniture and carvings, w^hich have remained 
unchanged for centuries, it may be for a thousand 
years, in any part of Europe, shrink and split very 
often within a month after being placed in a drawing 
or dining room in Boston or Philadelphia, as I know 
by sad experience. Thus I have known a very beauti- 
ful Italian mandoline, three hundred years old, richly 
inlaid with ivory, to so shrink and warp in America 
that a professional mender declared that nothing 
could be done with it. The sounding-board had 
curled up like a scroll and split, and the mosaic or 
inlaying had fallen out in bits. 

In such a case, carefully detach the warped piece or 
pieces, and dampen the concave side carefully with a 



WOOD-SHAVINGS 



sponge till it resumes its flatness or usual form. 
When this is attained, take very thin shavings of a 
firm wood, as thin as they can be shaved, and glue 
them transversely, or grain across grain, to the under 
or plain side of the board. This will probably pre- 
vent all warping in 



i 



1 



future, especially 
if the best mastic 
and fish-glue is em- 
ployed. It may 
here be noted that 
where the shav- 
ings cannot be ob- 
tained, thin parch- 
ment or even note- 
paper may be used, 
and that good, 
strong varnish, or 
not too thin, may 
be used for a bind- 
er. There are many 
cases in which 
parchment or pa- 
per are preferable 
to wood in lepair- 
ing, as being less 
liable to warp or 
crack. 

Wood-shavings, which are as yet but little utilised 
in art, have, however, before them " a great future." 
Combined with glue, or other binders, they can be 
made, even under the hand-roller, into boards, which 
have the advantage that they can be moulded, curved, 




Patterns cut from Wood-Shavings. 



52 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

or turned to suit many emeigencies which would re- 
quire a great deal of saw or carving work. 

It is not unusual to employ veneers, or very thin 
sheets of wood, as a guard across the grain where 
shrinking is to be apprehended, as in tablets for paint- 
ing on or panels, and it is a great pity that this veiy 
cheap precaution is so little used. But there are very 
few cases in which shavings are not as applicable, 
and they have the great advantage of being obtain- 
able wherever there is a plane and wood. 

Holes or defects in wood — for example, in American 
shingle roofs or the clap-boarded sides of houses — can 
often be more cheaply and readily repaired with shav- 
ings and glue (into which oil is infused) than by any 
other means. And it may be observed that such a 
coating of shavings and glue, laid on to a new roof, 
is the cheapest and most effective protector against 
iain or sun or frost. 

In certain work wood-shavings can be advantage- 
ously combined with paper to give a solid, smooth sur- 
face and firm body. Here the paper-paste, with or 
without sawdust, is first forced into the cavities, and 
the shavings superadded. 

Shavings and glue are excellent for the temporary 
repair of boats, and it the mending be properly exe- 
cuted, it will be as durable as the original wood. It 
would be an easy matter indeed to make a canoe en- 
tirely of shavings and glue. If the hand-roller be 
well used and thoroughly applied, the result will be 
a very firm fabric. 

It may be worth knowing in the wilderness, that 
where a backwoodsman has a plane (and he can always 
make one if he has a chisel, which, again, can be 



WOOD-SHAVINGS 



53 



made out of a 
knife-blade) he 
can make shav- 
ings, and with 
these and some 
kind of binder 
— even clay — 
he can lay a 
dry, hard floor, 
when perhaps 
boards are not 
to be obtained. 
The substra- 
tum may be of 
beaten clay or 
stone. If of suf- 
ficient thick- 
ness and well 
rolled, such a 
floor as this 
would be im- 
pervious to 
damp. 

Any surface 
can be very 
well veneered 
with shavings 
and glue. 
Smooth the 
surface by 
pressure or 
rolling, and 
when dry glass- 
paper it. Ve- 




54 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

neers are often not to be had ; shavings may be got 
in every carpenter's shop. 

Not only very strong and elastic canes, but even 
bows of a superior quality, can be made of shavings. 
The Indians in Pacific America make the latter by 
pasting and pressing one shaving on another with 
great care. It may be understood that where the 
grain, as in a piece of wood, runs altogether in one 
way, it will split with the grain. But where it is not 
uniform or connected, and is very powerfully incor- 
porated by pressure with a good binder, we may 
easily have a very elastic and tough fabric, not so 
likely to split as wood. Thus we can make from 
hickory shavings a wood less liable to waip or split 
than the original wood itself. 

Wood-shavings and glue are admirably adapted to 
repair broken boxes or any other articles of wood, 
especially for smoothing over roughly mended sur- 
faces and covering knot holes or other defects. In 
all cases when possible use the roller, and when past- 
ing one piece on the other cross the grains. 

Musical instruments, such as guitars, violins, and 
mandolins, are very easily repaired with shavings and 
glue ; and this is, indeed, in many cases, the very best 
means of reparation, since, while a piece of wood may 
or may not injure the tone, the shavings always give 
a good vibration. And where it is quite beyond the 
power of any ordinary amateur, say a lady, to set in 
a piece of wood or apply one, or to get it of a proper 
thickness, anybody with care can paste on thin shav- 
ings — the thinner the better — till the defect is re- 
paired. In many cases parchment or paper will answer 
just as well, and I have myself thus perfectly mend- 



WOOD-SHAVINGS 55 

ed violins which were appaiently beyond all bettering, 
and got to the stage of lasciatc ogni speranza, 01 hope- 
lessness. 

There are, however, many cases of badly fractured 
objects in which the owner gives up hope, because it 
seems impossible to make a beginning. Now, " whatever 
can be made can be mended" is tiue of everything 
except moials, and even in these there is moie to be 
done than men wot of. And in a gieat number of 
these cases paichment strips, thin linen tape, or espe- 
cially wood-shavings, can be used with success. 
Bring the broken edges together if they warp apait, 
and attach them with the strip and strongest cement ; 
that is, with small pieces of the " fastener." Do not 
attempt to do everything at once. When the edges 
are united and the binder dried, fill in all ctevices or 
holes with a suitable paste or " filler" — not too much 
at once, in certain cases. Then, as will generally be 
required, cover the surface with thin shavings and 
binder ; as it dries, file or glass-paper it smooth. 
The shavings will make, with mastic and fish-glue, in 
many cases, a far better repair than could be effected 
with a piece of wood or parchment, because they will 
never split, like the former, if they are applied lying 
transversely or crossways, nor stretch like the latter. 

It may depend, in many cases, on what wood the 
shavings consist of. As I have observed, even in the 
bush a plane can be made with a chisel or a piece of a 
table-knife blade, set in a wooden block ; but else- 
where any carpenter will easily supply what is wanted, 
ad libitum. 

The paste or filler of wood-powder or paper-pulp 
will be found described in other chapters. 



56 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

ORNAMENTAL WORK OF SHAVINGS- 
MARQUETRY 

A curious kind of ornament can be made by cutting 
out decorative patterns, human figures, animals, 
flowers, &c, from shavings with scissors or pen- 
knives, then glueing them on a smooth soft board. 
Apply as much pressure as possible, so as to make 
them sink into the wood, and when dry coat the 
whole with varnish, till an even surface is established. 
Rub over the dried surface with finest glass or emery- 
paper, and then smooth patiently with the palm of 
the hand. If this be well executed the result will be 
a perfect imitation of inlaid wood, although it is really 
an art by itself, which, I believe, is my own invention. 
Thin veneers may also be used instead of shavings. 
Ebony or walnut thus applique on larch or holly make 
exquisite work. 

This kind of ornament has great advantage over 
inlaid wood or marquetry, for the pieces of which it 
consist are far less liable to be detached or peel off, 
while it looks quite as beautiful. And be it observed 
that, laid with a transverse grain, it prevents warping 
and strengthens the ground, while inlaying weakens 
it ; for to make the bed for inlaying or mosaic we 
must excavate the bed till it is extremely thin and 
liable to warp, whereas in shaving-work we make a 
light but very strengthening addition. 

A single experiment will suffice to convince the 
reader of the merits of this very useful, elegant, and 
novel art. It is specially applicable to ornamenting 
albums and book-covers, where it may be used even 
on pasteboard. 



WOOD-SHAVINGS 57 

REPAIRING PANEL PICTURES WITH 
SHAVINGS 

It is often a very difficult matter to obtain a thin 
panel or strips and do all the woik properly when we 
wish to put into shape a warped panel, let us say of 
an old picture, which is on the point of splitting. 
The inserting screws is very dangerous. I myself 
have inadvertently thus made a fearful blemish in a 
Madonna's face. But if we use shavings there is no 
such danger. Wet the back till the panel is flat, and 
then gradually glue on the shavings across the grain. 
This is as well done with small bits as large. With 
a picture it would be well to continue the coating to 
the thickness of one-third of an inch or more, but a 
very thin coating will go far to prevent warping or 
bending. The thinnest panels or veneers may be 
thus " backed up" into solid boards. In all cases 
where practicable, use heavy pressure on the roller. 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 

" Amo?ig the thousci7id mad schemes which were 
proposed by projectors was one for making saw- 
dust into boards." — History of the South Sea 
Bubble. 

Very few people, even among workmen and artists, 
are aware of what remarkable and cuiious restoration 
the most decayed pieces of wood are capable. We 
will, however, begin with the simplest repairing, or 
that of furniture. 

When articles of furniture have been strongly and 
properly made of oak or other hard wood, and as 
properly used, they will last for centuries ; and should 
some unforeseen accident take away legs or arms, 
they can be perfectly replaced, especially in the ad- 
mirable old-fashioned German objects of the kind, 
which were all put together with wooden pins or by 
means of mortise and tenon, so that, when need re- 
quired, they could be packed as boards ; — nor were they 
the less elegant for this. But if furniture be simply 
sawed from soft, cheap deal or poplar, and merely 
glued together (as most cheap furniture made in Eng- 
land is), it will soon warp and break up, and all the 
mending in the world will not make it better than it 
w T as when new. Glue is, therefore, the great mate- 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 59 

iial for most woodwork, and, as I shall show, in two 
very different forms. 

Having a broken chair-leg, which can, however, be 
fitted together, first prepare your glue in a proper 
kettle — that is, a balneum marice, or one kettle in an- 
other. In the outer is only boiling water ; in the 
inner the glue, mixed with water. The reason for 
this is, that glue, when softened with water, dries up 
very rapidly under the action of air or fire, while the 
softer heat of water keeps it, so to speak, " alive.' ' 

But if, while the glue is soft, we pour, say, a 
teaspoonful of nitric acid into half-a-pint of glue, it 
will remain soft a much longer time — which is a valu- 
able secret to many, especially where large, broad 
surfaces of veneers are to be glued on, and where, 
the process being slow, it is desirable for the adhesive 
to remain soft for many minutes. And here I would 
mention that the acid-glue will remain in a liquid 
state for one year if tightly corked up in a bottle. Its 
only defect is a disagreeable, pungent smell. 

This glue can be improved by being made as fol- 
lows : — Take of best glue three parts, place them in 
eight parts of water, and allow the mixture to soak 
some hours. Take half a part of hydrochloric or 
muriatic acid and three-quarters of a part of sulphate 
of zinc ; add to these the glue, and keep the whole at 
a moderately high temperature till fluid — that is to 
say, boil the glue as usual in a balneum marice or in 
hot water, after soaking it all night in water. Then 
stir in the hydrochloric (or muriatic) acid and sul- 
phate of zinc. This is a first-class glue. Keep it in 
a bottle with an oiled cork ; any other stopper would 
adhere. But for all ordinary work the glue, with 



60 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

nitric acid, will suffice, as it holds with great tenacity 
to anything. 

This glue, which keeps liquid for a long time, and 
which holds without scaling off, as common glue often 
does, may also be made with very strong vinegar. The 
latter, in fact, amounts to the same thing in most 
European countries, but especially in the United 
States, where, according to the New York Tribune, 
there is literally no vinegar sold or made, save from 
sulphuric acid and water. Perhaps when mankind 
shall have reached a higher stage of civilisation, all 
dealers will be compelled by law to place on every 
article of food sold the list of ingredients of which it 
is composed. We should then know how much oleo- 
margarine passes for butter, and what proportion of 
" delicious conserves" are manufactured from apples 
alone or turnips. 

Observe that in glueing ordinary wood together the 
two pieces to be attached should be gradually but 
very well heated first. This renders them more in- 
clined to " take" the glue. This is applicable to 
other substances. 

Also note that when two surfaces have been made 
to adhere with ordinary water-glue, should they come 
apart when cold, it is very difficult to make them 
unite again. But this is not the case with acid-glue. 
And if you have such surfaces which will not unite, 
wash them with nitric acid or very strong vinegar, 
and the glue then applied will " take." Also observe 
that the acid-glue is far stronger than the common 
kind. 

Having the broken leg fitted, first with a narrow 
gimlet or brad-awl make a hole crossing the fracture, 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 61 

then glue the pieces together, and before the glue 
dries put a screw or two through the hole ; i.e., screw 
the pieces together. This will hold peifectly, if you 
will sink the head of the sciew in the wood, smooth 
it with a file, then putty it over and paint it. 

It seems strange that anything can be so mended as 
to be stronger than before ; yet this is literally true as 
legards the broken leg of a chair, a cane, a beam, the 
mast or spar of a vessel, or any similar long piece of 
wood. This is effected as follows : — Cut the two 
separated pieces into two exactly fitting " steps" or 
mortises, as shown in this illustration. 



Fasten these with glue and screws ; or, better still, 
by adding to both two sliding, tightly fitting ling- 
tubes, or one long one. This will actually make the 
stick stronger than it was at first. The rings should 
be covered with paper, glued, and then painted and 
varnished. 

The processes of glueing and screwing are applica- 
ble to most fractures of furniture. Where a piece of 
wood is broken away, it, or a similar piece, must be 
inserted. When wood is warped it may be straight- 
ened by applying wet towels. Observe that if a flat 
panel is warped thus — 



you must wet the upper or concave side, put it under 
heavy weight, and as soon as it becomes straight, 



62 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

screw it down with transverse strips. Drawers which 
are made from badly seasoned wood are a grief to the 
heart. They warp and stick. When you find that 
such is the case you can save yourself much annoy- 
ance by examining them, planing away the obstruc- 
tions, and nailing transverse strips of wood across ; 
that is to say, pieces in which the grain of the strip 
crosses that of the wood. Very good and well-sea- 
soned English furniture often warps badly in India ; 
therefore it should be thus protected. This can in 
most cases be better done with strips of metal. In 
large wardrobes, presses, or chests, where there are 
broad and often thin panels, this precaution should 
always be taken. As I write I have just seen two ex- 
quisitely painted and valuable pictures on panel, one 
of which had curved and split in two, while the other 
was badly warped for want of such a precaution, 
which would have cost only a penny's worth of strip 
and screws and half-an-hour's work to save them. 

It will very often happen in mending furniture that 
neither nail, glue, nor screw can be relied on. In 
such case bore with a suitable gimlet and pass wire 
through the hole. Flexible wire twisted in two 
strands, with the ends properly secured, say to the 
head of a screw, all being sunk beneath the level, will 
hold almost anything. 

Fiames for looking-glasses or pictures often 
" spring" at the joints. In such cases a screw with 
acidulated glue will make them permanently strong. 

Always put handles to drawers. The vile invention 
or device of using the key for a handle is by far too 
common. Metallic handles of brass are preferable to 
wooden knobs. Keys are often lost, or else break. 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 63 

The bottom of a drawer should always be secured by 
screws, 

When the bottom of a drawer, as frequently hap- 
pens, shrinks and becomes too short, so that there is 
a long opening, the latter should be filled with a strip 
of wood. The chief cause why modern furniture is 
apt to become loose or separate is chiefly due to its 
being made either of unseasoned or soft wood, such 
as weak deal or poplar, which absorbs moisture from 
the air and then dries and shrinks, or because it is 
made of too many pieces only glued together, and 
that with cheap, bad glue. 

Restoring Decayed Wood. — The worst cases of 
decay or of worm-eaten wood can be perfectly re- 
stored in this manner : — Take fine sawdust of the 
same kind of wood as the original. Let it be' as fine 
as possible, either cut with a refined saw or powdered 
in a mortar. Sift it. Then with acidulated glue, or 
else plain, clear, white Salisbury glue for light wood, 
make a paste, well mixed. With this you can fill up 
holes A (using a spatula or flexible knife or ivory paper- 
knife). But, what is more, you can thus make a very 
strong artificial wood which can be moulded into any 
form, and when dry polished by cutting over the sur- 
face with a chisel or flat gouge, and using a file or 
glass-paper to finish. In fact, you can mould or 
model figures with this wood-paste by itself. Putty 
is generally used for such repairs, but the wood-paste 
is like wood, and quite as durable. 

If you have a mould of plaster of Paris, boil it in 
oil, clean it, and then oil it. With the wood-paste 
you can make ornaments which can be applied to 
plain wood surfaces. 



64 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Splints, fractures, cracks, holes, corners broken 
away, are all easily restored with wood-paste. In 
moulding it the fingers should be oiled to prevent its 
sticking. 

Any kind of dry sawdust can thus be converted into 
a paste, which, when dry, becomes wood. It may be 
very much hardened under a hydraulic-press or by a 
wooden hand-roller. Housekeepers should use this 
composition for filling up rat-holes, or any kind of 
crevices in furniture, or panels, or doors and walls, 
especially where such cracks harbour insects. 

It would be perfectly possible to construct an entire 
house of such wood-cement, and one which would be 
perfectly durable, or even more so than wood, since 
beams and planks thus made never crack, split, nor 
warp. With it the boldest vaulting and arch work 
can be more easily made than in stone or with wood, 
as the latter is usually worked. As builders in Turkey 
form domes by making circles of clay or mud, and 
gradually add to the first a smaller one, so by using 
wood-paste the largest space could be covered or domed 
over without building a scaffolding. There are many 
places in the world w T here (as in the prairies of Ameri- 
ca, Russia, and Hungary) large timber is wanting, 
but where small wood for sawdust is more available, 
and yet where, as cattle abound, glue would be very 
cheap. This material deserves more serious attention 
than it has ever received. 

More than twenty years after I had invented, or at 
least projected and put in practice, this method of 
making artificial wood, I found the following in the 
Manuel General du Modelage, par F. Goupil ; Paris, 
Le Bailly :— 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 65 

" To make vases, take fine dry sawdust and pass it 
through a sieve. It may be made into a paste with a 
compound of turpentine, resin, and wax. Or mix the 
adhesive with five parts of best strong white glue 
(colle de Flandre) to one part of fish-glue. Melt them 
separately, . . . pour them together, boil to a proper 
consistency, and mix with the sawdust. By this proc- 
ess figures can be cast which, when finished by hand, 
exactly resemble carved wood." 

Another recipe is to take 750 grammes of strong glue 
to \\ kilogramme of gall nuts. To be mixed cold. 
Mix in hot water with sawdust. 

Since writing the foregoing I have found the fol- 
lowing recipe in a MS. of 1780, a family heirloom 
kindly lent me by Miss Roma Lister : — 

"To cast Wood in Moulds as fine as Ivory, of a fra- 
grant Smell, and in different Colours. —Dry Lime Tree 
wood sawdust in a pan by a gentle fire, and beat it to 
a fine powder in a stone mortar. Sift it through 
Cambric, and keep it in a dry place free from dust. 
Then add to an equal quantity of Gum Tragacanth 
and Gum Arabic 4 times the quantity of Parchment 
Glue. Boil them in Pump Water, and filter through 
Linen. Stir into it the Wood powder till it becomes 
of the substance of a thick pastry ; stir it all together, 
and set it in a glazed pan in hot sand, for the mois- 
ture to evaporate till it be fit for casting. Mix your 
colours with the Paste, and to give it a Scent put Oil 
of Cloves or Roses or the like, which, if you please, 
you may mix with powdered Amber. Anoint the 
mould with Oil of Almonds, and put your paste into 
it. Let it dry for 4 or 5 days, then take off your 
mould, and the Images will be as hard as Ivory. You 
may cut, turn, carve, and plane this wood, and it will 
have a fine scent. The mould may be Plaster of 
Paris, but it were better made of metal." 



66 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

I would add to this, that where heavy pressure or 
nand-rolling can be applied this becomes really hard. 
Also note that any light, dry wood of fine texture can 
be dried and powdered for this purpose. The paste, 
even with common fine glue, can be used for very fine 
repairing. By sifting and pulverising, the dust may 
be made as fine as flour. A little calcined and pow- 
dered glass adds to its strength. 

To make panels for furniture, walls, or boxes, take 
fiistly a thin panel of seasoned wood, fasten two strips 
of sheet-tin across the back to prevent warping, and 
make or apply the cast to this. Very beautiful work 
can thus be produced very cheaply. 

It may be here observed that this principle of mix- 
ing a powdered substance with glue or gum or an 
adhesive runs through all the arts of mending. The 
powder of cocoa-nut shells, slate, of paper, plaster of 
Paris, of leather, clay, lime, fine sand, and many 
other substances, can all be combined with adhesives, 
acids, or chemical solvents in such a manner as to 
form what may be called generically cements, or sub- 
stances, or pastes, which become hard. Any glue or 
gum, or liquid which will make two surfaces adhere, 
can be mixed with most organic or inorganic hard 
substances in powder so as to form a paste which, 
when dry, forms a solid, hard substance, because the 
grains of the powder are thereby cemented together. 
Most of these yield to the action of water, but there 
are a few which resist both water and fire, all of 
which will be described in this work. 

Broken ebony can be filled in cracks with a very 
neat and dainty paste or cement made as follows : — 
Take dried rose-leaves, or any others as soft, steep 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 67 

them in just enough water to soften them, add of 
gum-tragacanth and gum-arabic just enough to make 
a paste, and sufficient ivory black to give it an ebony 
colour. Macerate the whole in a mortar. In the 
East a few drops of otto of roses or of geranium are 
added. From this heads aie made, also medallions, 
or any other small objects. The composition sets 
very hard, and much resembles ebony. I have made 
many small objects of it myself, and can testify to its 
excellence. It is in this manner that the black rosa- 
ries from Constantinople are made. 

A very good cement for filling cracks in furniture 
or other woodwork is made as follows : — One part of 
finely powdered resin and two parts of yellow wax 
are melted together, and to this is added two parts 
of finely pulverised ochre, or other suitable colouring 
earthy substance. This is an excellent cement in all 
respects, except that it yields to great heat. For all 
such repairing sawdust and glue is much to be pre- 
ferred. 

In repairing furniture, remember the screws hold 
much more firmly if they are just dipped in boiling 
beeswax or turpentine. If you are not accustomed 
to screwing or nailing, just make a hole with a brad* 
awl, else you will find the screw or nail going out of 
the side of the box, or in some other undesired direc- 
tion. 

Clamps, or pieces of wood connected by screws, 
ties, or elastic bands, are indispensable in much glue- 
ing pieces together. They are, however, easily made. 
A good clamp can be made by bending over the two 
ends of a strong piece of wire. Hammer the ends 
into the wood. 



68 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Glue is more elastic when mixed with a little gly- 
cerine. This should be borne in mind when mixing 
glue with sawdust to form artificial wood, and, in 
fact, in many manufactures and combinations where 
it is specially desirous to have a certain degree of 
toughness or flexibility in the object made. 

To utilise waste matter is allied to mending, which 
is only preventing waste. For this purpose common 
wood-shavings may be used for a pretty art. Take 
good shavings of any wood, and after moistening 
them with glue or gum tragacanth and arabic, press 
them flat. Trim them with scissors into leaves, or 
make them into flowers, and attach them together. 
Then pour over them liquid plaster of Paris, in 
which there is gum-arabic and alum dissolved. Take 
a bush, or plant without leaves, and gum the leaves 
to it or to its twigs. Cover bare places with the gyp- 
sum. When dry varnish the whole. A Professor 
Heigelin, in Stuttgart, once had an exhibition of 
such work. Frames can be decorated in this manner. 
Paint, gilding, and enamel, or bronze powders, can, 
of course, be applied. Shavings combined with weak 
glue submitted to pressure form artificial wood or 
boards, which can be improved by further combina- 
tion with waste-paper. Made with a solution of alum 
it is fireproof. Its strength will be in proportion to 
the pressure applied. It can often be employed in 
repairing when suitable wood is wanting, and has the 
advantage that it can be turned to any shape. 

The reader can easily satisfy himself by experiment 
that these artificial woods made from sawdust or 
shavings, combined with adhesives, are very easy to 
manufacture, very cheap, and, when properly made, 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 69 

extremely strong. When strong pressure or rolling 
can be applied, the quantity of adhesive may be 
diminished. Linen or muslin rags, cotton-wool, or 
any textile fabric can be added to the shavings, as 
well as waste-paper of all kinds. Anything fibrous 
or stringy will aid in the binding. 

This subject may be studied in detail in a work en- 
titled Die Verwerthung der Holtzabfdlle—The render- 
ing valuable of Refuse-Wood, such as Shavings, 
Refuse Dye-Wood, &c, showing how they may be 
converted to Artificial Wood, Fuel, Chemicals, Explo- 
sives, &c. — by Ernst Hubbard ; Vienna, price 3 
marks. 

Wood of all kinds is in America sawed into such 
thin veneers that they are used to serve as wall-paper, 
being attached with paste. When damp they bend 
like paper. Such veneer is very useful for repairing 
wooden surfaces. 

Common putty is not always to be trusted in for 
repairing wood. It sometimes shrinks, and is never 
very hard. The glue w T ith glycerine and sawdust or 
cocoa-nut dust is preferable. 

" Scratches and chance cuts may be remedied by 
merely melting or washing and rubbing in with cold 
water. But for most small defects a filler is used. 
This is a kind of paint or liquid cement, the object of 
which is to fill up the pores of certain coarse woods 
and make the surface fine. Soft wax, flour, and var- 
nish are used for this purpose.' ' 

Any dealer in paints and varnishes will supply a 
filler for any special work. 

Staining or colouring wood is an important part of 
repairing. " Oiling alone is a kind of colouring, 



70 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

for all oiled wood becomes much Marker in a short 
time." 1 

Soda dissolved in water gives to oak wood a much 
darker tone. Dark tea and alum is also useful, and 
still better very strong coffee. Also porter or beer 
mixed with umber. Also a decoction of walnut-leaves 
boiled down. In using these or any other colours the 
following rules must be strictly observed :— (i.) Use 
a sponge or brush, and do not apply the dye freely or 
pour it on, as you will run great risk of warping the 
wood or making it split. (2.) Exercise the greatest 
care in drying it near a fire. (3.) Do not expect to 
colour all at once by a profuse application. However 
light the colour may seem, always when it is dry rub 
off the colour with a rag or chamois-skin, and then 
make a second wash. This process will make the dye 
strike in deeper and last longer. 

Stevens' Stains, also those of Mander, are very 
good and strong. They generally require dilution. 

Ammonia is much used to give wood a dark rich 
colour. Wood thus treated, if afterwards exposed to 
the smoke of a wood fire, assumes a very ancient ap- 
pearance. Bichromate of potash with water is a good 
dark dye, but it must be carefully handled, as it is 
very poisonous and injurious to clothing. It is used 
to give a waterproof quality to certain cements. 

Good writing-ink is a very good black dye. When 
it is quite dry, oil, rub, and polish it, and the ink will 
resist a great deal of wetting. 

It should be remembered that with ink, as with 

1 Vide " Wood- Carving," by Charles Godfrey Leland, 
F.R.L.S., M.A. XLondon, Whittaker & Co., 5s.), for a chapter 
on this subject. 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 71 

dyes, there should always be at least two applications, 
and that the first should be very thoroughly dried, if 
possible, in a strong light, though not in sunshine, 
before the second is laid on. Three coats of blackest 
ink well dried in, then rubbed in well, and finally 
oiled, form an almost waterproof cover. 

When panels of marquetry or of inlaid wood of dif- 
ferent colours are broken away or require to be re- 
placed, it can be done in the following manner : — 
Take a panel of very firm fine white wood — holly is 
the best ; next to it Swiss or German larch — draw 
on it your pattern, and then with a penknife go over 
all the pattern, cutting into the panel about a quarter 
of an inch, or rather less— in no case far enough to 
cut through. Then carefully fill all these lines with 
a firm cement, and let it dry well. Then with a dye 
— not with paint — color each piece appropriately. 
The cement and lines will prevent the dye from 
spreading from piece to piece. This is known as 
Venetian marquetry. When finished, apply Soehnee 
varnish, and rub down very carefully by hand. It is 
a very beautiful and easy work, not to be distin- 
guished when well done from real inlaying. Very 
cheap and plain old furniture can be easily made very 
elegant by having panels, &c, of this work applied. 
The reader may begin with a small box or three- 
legged stool, working directly on the w T ood, and will 
then probably be encouraged to proceed. Dark 
brown patterns on light yellow wood look well. 

This work is very easy and elegant, very little 
made, and may be therefore profitable. Any kind of 
light or white wood, such as deal or pine, may be 
used for common decoration. Cheap violins and 



72 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

guitars are sometimes made into handsome ornaments 
for rooms by this process. For designs for this pur- 
pose consult the Manuals of Design, Wood-Carving, 
and Leather-Work, by the Author (Whittaker & Co., 
No. 2 White Hart Street, London, E.C.). 

Marquetry may also be mended by making and col- 
ouring wood-paste, in which case prepare the ground 
with great care, by roughening, to hold the glue ; 
also by using coloured cements, such as bread, well 
worked with powder and glycerine-glue. 

It does not seem to occur to many people — even to 
those living in the country — that there is a great deal 
of strong, plain, useful furniture which can be easily 
made at home at no very great expense, boards of 
good quality being cheap enough. With a few les- 
sons from an expert, or even with the study of a good 
elementary manual of cabinetmaking, any amateur 
can succeed. Whoever can make a good box can 
make an antique chair, and this can, however plain, 
be carved, stained, or marquetried into beauty ; but 
let him beware of sawed curves. 

Where there are worms in furniture or other wood, 
they should always be very promptly exterminated, 
else they will destroy it in time. To remove them, 
dissolve 2 drachms of corrosive sublimate in 2 oz. of 
methylated spirit and 2 oz. of water, to be applied 
freely with a feather or brush. This is an unfailing 
remedy ; but the mixture is poisonous, and therefore 
should be kept labelled out of harm's way (Work, 
Sept. 1892). 

In restoring or repairing woodwork we must have 
some knowledge not only of paints, varnishes, putties, 
and filling, but also of agents which prevent organic 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 73 

change or are applicable to peculiar accidents. One 
of the principal of these is known as knotting. Its 
properties and general nature are freely explained in 
the following article from The Decorator, Sept. 1892 : — 

" ■ Knotting,* or, as it is usually written, Patent 
Knotting, is a quick-drying, semi-transparent fluid. 
It is made from naphtha and shellac ; hence its quick- 
drying nature. The knots of woodwork, especially 
pine, contain much resin, which gradually exudes 
from the surface. This resin will speedily darken, 
and ultimately destroy, the covering film of oil paint 
with which woodwork is usually coated. The object 
of coating knots in woodwork with ' patent knotting 
composition ' is to seal up, so to term it, the resin. 
In the earlier history of house-painting processes a 
mixture of red lead and strong glue-size, applied 
warm, was often used. The chief point in view is to 
stop the * cause,' but without objectionable * effect ;' 
therefore the thinnest perceptible covering — so long 
as it is effectual — is the best. The patent knotting of 
commerce is the article now generally purchased and 
used. The knots are given one or two bare coatings 
— according to the nature of the knot, and the con- 
science of the workman. The best knotting is the 
colour of dark oak varnish ; the worst is the blackest 
and dirtiest-looking. It always pays to have the best 
knotting, since ' black knotting ' requires an extra 
coat of paint to cover the dark patches which ' grin 
through ' any light tints. For the best work it is 
usually advisable — especially when the woodwork has 
to be finished, and perhaps hand-polished, in * ivory- 
white ' enamel — to have the knots cut out with a 



74 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

chisel or gouge, then fill up with lead ' filling-up ' in 
distemper, T recently had to have the door of an 
elaborately decorated drawing-room so treated, since, 
despite being fresh knotted, the resin began to dis- 
colour the work, which had leceived some six coats 
of paint and enamel, ere the room was furnished — a 
very annoying and costly matter. Very occasionally 
knots are gilded over with best gold-leaf ; this is gen- 
erally conceded to be an effectual plan to adopt, when 
gouging is not resorted to, for finest work. Knotting 
woodwork is, therefore, not an insignificant detail of 
house-painting, especially when we are dealing with 
a door-side ; that alone, when finished in hand- pol- 
ished enamel, may cost a ten-pound note to produce. 
* Tin-paint ' will do for common priming ; good lin- 
seed-oil is the chief element required. All new wood- 
work requires three coats of good lead and oil paint 
before standing any time — viz., priming and two after- 
coats. This is known as 'builders' finish.' When 
permanently decorated it usually requires ' getting 
up ' to a proper surface, and two or three more coats/' 

It is sometimes an advantage to " gouge* ' — i.e., to 
cut — out a bad knot and fill the cavity with wood, 
wood-paste, or carton-pierre. 

A very beautiful stain can be given to wood by rub- 
bing it with nitric or sulphuric acid, and exposing it 
to the heat of a fire. In this way American hickoiy 
can be made to look like rosewood. Pine becomes 
red, which grows darker with increased heat. 

Mending Furniture. — There is but one rule for 
repairing creaky chairs and tables with loose legs. 
They must be carefully taken apart, which can be done 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 75 

with chisels, a knife, and hammer, and then glued 
and screwed or put together again as they were orig- 
inally made. The old-fashioned rounds or rungs of 
chairs, now so seldom seen, were a great aid to 
strength and durability. 

I have already remarked that when a drawer in a 
bureau table is troublesome by continually sticking 
or catching, take it out, find where it rubs, and plane 
away the obtrusive portion. If it is made of badly 
seasoned, green, warping wood, nail across it strips 
of tin. To which I add that doors of closets, cab- 
inets, &c, which are shrunk must have strips of wood 
glued to their edges. In some cases strips of paper 
will do as a temporary substitute. 

It is no exaggeration whatever to declare that two 
or three centuiies ago the slight and trashily made 
article of furniture was a great exception, while at the 
present day it is the well-made, durable article which 
forms the rarity — to the great shame, be it said, firstly, 
of all furniture-makers, and, secondly, to fashionable 
" taste," which prefers slightness to strength. 

This trashy and flimsy lightness is vastly to the 
profit of the cabinetmaker, since he can thus utilise 
the cheapest and smallest pieces of worthless wood 
by turning them into supports for light etageres or 
shelves, cross-backs and legs of spider-like little 
chairs, and all parts of small curved sofas, which are to 
be duly puttied, Fiench polished, or completely hidden 
in velveteen or rep. It is not unusual to see what is con- 
sidered a handsomely furnished room in which there 
is not one absolutely well-made or strong article 
which would bear careful examination or turning up. 
It is a pitiful sight indeed to see a load of such furni- 



76 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

ture on its way from the cabinetmakers, or the mill 
where it is sawed out by steam, to the place where it 
is to be veneered or painted, glazed, and clothed into 
elegance. The pieces of refuse pine wood and Ameri- 
can greenish-yellow poplar stuck together with glue, 
and as few short nails as possible, look so shammy 
and shabby ! I have wondered, in beholding them, 
at the marvellous boldness of their makers, who could 
deliberately calculate the time that such stuff would 
endure before its debacle. And as it is all destined to 
be broken and mended sometime or other, it is the 
more necessary that the art of repairing should be 
studied. Unfortunately, badly seasoned deal cannot 
be repaired into well-seasoned oak. Yet he who will 
take the pains to ascertain the price of the latter will 
be amazed to learn that so few people have it made 
into good, solid, strong furniture. " It is not there 
that the expense comes in." If the reader, having 
some sense or taste in art, would make his own furni- 
ture, employing an assistant at six shillings a day to 
do the rough sawing and planing, he would find that 
he could have strong, substantial furniture ; and if 
he would add to this so much knowledge of panel- 
carving as he could acquire in a few lessons, he might 
make it beautiful. 

A cement for wood is made as follows : — 

Caseine ...... 10 

Borax . . . . . .5 

This is carefully worked into a thickish milk-like 
mass. It may be used as a glue for wood or as a 
paste for paper. It admits of many modifications. 
To make a very good waterproof cement for wood, as 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 77 

well as other pui poses, take this cement when it shall 
have hardened, or after it has been applied, and wash 
it over frequently with a very strong extract of gall- 
apples. This forms, according to Lehner, an insolu- 
ble union with caseine. 

A cement much employed in China to combine and 
make woodwork, basket-work, pasteboard, &c, water- 
proof is made as follows : — 

Slacked lime ..... 100 
Stirred ox-blood .... 75 
Alum ...... 2 

This is commended as being very strong and dura- 
ble. It is probable that a slight increase of the alum 
in solution, or an addition of strong infusion of gall- 
apples, would improve it. 

A water-proof cement for wooden casks is made 
as follows : — 

Strong solution of glue . . .10 
Linseed-oil varnish .... 5 
Oxide of lead . . . . .1 

Boil together for ten minutes. This cement must 
not be brought into connection with lye (Lehner). 

A good, strong, cheap cement for joining wood 
with metal or stone is made with 

Carpenters' glue .... 50 
Sifted wood-ashes . . . . 100 

While the glue is soft stir into it the wood-ashes in 
greater or lesser quantity, according to their quality 
and fineness, till a syrupy mass is formed. Clay can 
also be combined with this mixture to make casts. 



78 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Com'mon/m/of fine quality (for there are different 
kinds or degrees of it), carefully cleaned from sticks 
and fibies, combined with common glue infused freely 
with nitric acid, submitted to strong pressure, is said 
to form a valuable substitute for wood, which may be 
used not only for repaiiing, filling chinks in trees, 
making up decayed timber, &c, but also to form 
blocks and planks. 

I have elsewhere mentioned that shavings are util- 
ised in Germany. Combined with glue, infused with 
glycerine, and submitted to pressure, they form 
boards which are even less brittle than many which 
are in ordinary use. The peculiar advantage of this 
artificial timber is the limitless length of the boards 
which can be thus made, which is often a great desid- 
eratum in flooring, or indeed in any building where 
piecing should be avoided. A canoe can thus be 
made on another as mould, in which case the shav- 
ing-cement is to be hardened by rollers. There is a 
book on this subject, elsewhere mentioned. 

It may be observed that, as long and broad timber 
becomes every year more rare and valuable, artificial 
timber from smaller plants must certainly take its 
place. 

Whitewash for wood is rendered more durable 
and glossy by the addition of liquid glue, well stirred 
in. It is still further improved by the addition of 
milk. This lasts so much longer than common wash 
that it is in the end perhaps ten times as cheap. 
When well made it has been known, when applied to 
the exterior of certain Government buildings in Wash- 
ington, U.S.A., to last for seven years. If colouring 
matter, such as umber, be added, let the latter be 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 



79 



mixed separately with the glue, and very thoroughly, 
before it is joined to the lime. The addition of a few- 
eggs to the mixture will improve it. The lime pre- 
pared with the following forms a still better and 
stronger wash, which is well worth the extra ex- 
pense :— 

Glue . . . . .60 

Linseed-oil varnish . . . .20 

The varnish, while hot, is mixed with the boiling 
glue, and it is to be used at once. This is (Lehner) 
useful to coat and caulk casks, especially those in 
which such fluids as highly rectified spirits of wine 
are carried. Be it observed that the hotter the mix- 
ture is when applied the more deeply does it pene- 
trate, yet the less is in the end required. 

A GOOD CEMENT FOR CARPENTERS I — 



Slacked lime . 

Flour 

Linseed-oil varnish 



5o 
100 

15 



Woodwork which is to be under water or much ex- 
posed to rain maybe cemented with the following : — 



Calcined lime . 

Flint sand 

Iron (powder filings) 

Ochre 

Brick-dust 



10 
15 

5 
20 

20 



The powder must be well mixed by shaking, and, 
just before use, to be mixed with water. 

The following may be used for joints in timbers, 
holes and cracks, or for covering the surfaces, as it is 



86 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

an excellent protective against wet. It may also be 
used for stone, &c. : — 

Purified brick-dust . . . .10 

Calcined lime . . . . *. 10 

Purified red iron ore . . .10 

Work this to a paste with dissolved soda. Modi- 
fications of this combination of soda with iron and 
brick-dust will readily occur to all who have carefully 
studied this work. 

A CEMENT FOR WOOD : — 

Slacked lime powder 1 

Rye-meal . . . . .2 

Linseed-oil vainish 1 

To which burnt umber or similar powder may be 
added at discretion. This cement dries slowly, but 
becomes very hard. It is good for filling cracks, 
noles, &c. 

French glue for wood : — 

Gum-arabic 1 

Water ...... 2 

Potato starch . . . . 3-5 

Sawdust, as I have explained, from my own con- 
jecture and experiment, can be combined with cements 
so as to form an artificial wood, which can be easily 
moulded or carved, and with which all kinds of worm- 
eaten and decayed wood can be restored. I find that 
for this purpose Lehner gives the following : — 

* Take the finest sawdust and combine it with lin- 
seed-oil varnish, kneading the mass very carefully/ ' 

This, when properly combined and worked, would 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 81 

foim a veiy good artificial wood. It may be here ob- 
served, that because the experimenter finds at a first 
trial that the wood is too brittle or too hard, he is not 
to conclude that the recipe is good for nothing. Thus, 
to prepare it with, glue we should take — 

Water ...... 20 

Glue ...... 1 

First boil the glue very carefully, and stir into it 
the finest wood-dust or cocoa-nut shell powder. The 
quality will be improved if the latter has already been 
steeped for some time in a strong solution of oak-baik 
or gall-apples in spirit, or, instead of the latter, water. 
This disposes the dust to amalgamate with the glue. 
Stir the whole thoioughly. A commoner or coarser 
prepaiation for simply repairing is made by combin- 
ing plaster of Paris, glue in watery solution, and saw- 
dust. Common bone-dust, plaster of Paris, and glue 
make a good cement for light wood-dust. With a 
little glyceiine it can be used for moulding. Add a 
little pipeclay, and if the bone-dust be very fine the 
suiface will take a very high polish. Finish with oil 
and hand lubbing. This composition combines well 
with perfectly softened and macerated paper — not 
meiely soaked — to form panels, which, however, to 
make them hard, should be pressed or rolled. 

Cements for deals or boards of soft wood : — 

I. 

Caseine ...... 500 grams. 

Water ....... 4 qts. 

Spirit sal-ammoniac . . . 0.5 qt. 

Calcined lime . . . . 250 grams. 



82 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

II. 

Glue 2 

Water . . . . . .14 

Cement lime ..... 7 

Sawdust ...... 3-4 

For splits in trees, or fractures in the bark : — 

Pitch or resin . . . -5° 

Tallow ...... 10 

Oil of turpentine . . . . 5 

Spirits of wine . . .5 

The resin is first melted, the turpentine then stirred 
in, then the tallow, and finally the spirits. 

I have spoken of artificial wood as chiefly made of 
sawdust combined with a binder such as glue. There 
are, however, strictly speaking, other kinds. The 
first of these is made fiom cellulose, which is disin- 
tegrated wood which still retains its fibre. It was dis- 
covered, I believe, by accident, in New York about 
thiity years ago. A stick, which fitted tightly, had 
been left in a cannon, when the latter was fired off. 
The result was that the stick was converted into a 
pulpy, fibrous mass, which was found to be admirable 
as a mateiial for making paper. This, combined with 
glue, makes good boards. 

Bark of different kinds is also combined in powder 
with glue to make wood. In all of these mixtures, 
where it is desirable to avoid brittleness or hardness, 
there must be an admixture of oil or glycerine. 
There is generally about T % of the latter to T 8 o° ¥ of 
sawdust, but the proportion varies according to the 
degree of elasticity or hardness required. To make 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 83 

boards the mixture is passed under heavy rollers, and 
when dry it is further treated with alum in solution, 
or tanner's infusion of oak-bark, to make it water- 
proof. This is not necessary for ordinary work or 
repair. 

To imitate Cedar. — Take any white wood and 
boil it for several hours in the following mixture : — 

Catechu . . . . . 200 

Caustic soda .... 100 

Water ..... 10,000 

This penetrates very deeply into any wood. It is a 
very good protective. 

To prepare Wood for Paint. — When you have a 
board or box, &c, however rough, and of any kind 
of inferior wood, first smooth the surface, if possible 
by planing, or else with a rasp and glass-paper. Fill 
all the holes and chinks with putty, or bread and 
gum, or gum and plaster of Paris. Then, with a mix- 
ture of glue (not too stiff) and fine white plaster of 
Paris, rub over all the surface to perfect smoothness, 
and when quite dry remove any irregularities with 
finest glass-paper. Then paint as desired. This is 
an approved method of repairing old panel pictures, 
which were all made with such a ground of plaster 
and glue. 

To repair Marquetry or Inlaid Woodwork. — 
This, as I have already said, and will now describe 
more in detail, is made of different pieces of coloured 
wood, glued on a panel. Take a piece of fine hard 
wood, such as holly, and saw it out to exactly fit the 
place where pieces are missing. Draw the pattern on 
it, and then outline it very neatly with a fine pen- 



84 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

knife-point, so as to cut a little way into the wood, 
but not through it. Fill up this line thus cut with a 
composition of vainish and any black powder. Then 
with dyes, not oil paint or watei -colour, but such as 
are made with spirit, colour the pattern, a separate 
colour to every piece. The dye will sink in and grow 
pale ; then apply it again, and till it is of the hue de- 
sired. Polish the whole. This is what is called 
Venetian marquetry. It is, very easy to make, and 
produces beautiful results, quite equal to the sawed- 
out and inlaid work. It is, moreover, much more 
duiable and far less expensive. Mander's dyes are 
used for such staining. 

Even a single inlaid figure of wood, set into a panel, 
as in the back of a chair, gives a character, and ap- 
parently greater value, to the whole. Such inlaying 
is easily made with a fret-saw. If we take two thin 
plates of wood, one dark and one light, and saw the 
same pattern out of both, we can then set one into the 
other, and so make two inlays by one process. Par- 
quetry is large inlaying for floors. For this it is well 
to study such forms as can be set together, as, for in- 
stance, squares, diamonds, crosses, T' s > an d the like. 

Violins, guitars, and lutes can be beautifully 
adorned by the Venetian process. As the colours do 
not wear away, and cannot scale off like common in- 
laying, it will be seen that it is by far the best way to 
decorate them. Furniture of all kinds can be orna- 
mented in the same way. It is peculiarly appropriate 
to picture-frames. It being very little known, objects 
thus prepared meet with a ready sale. 

When a corner of a pane in a window, as often hap- 
pens — as also to the glass of a picture-frame or mirror 



REPAIRING WOODWORK 



§5 



— is broken away, we can easily make or have made 
a small ornament which will fit into the corner and 
conceal the defect, This can be made of wood., papier- 






Mirror with Ornaments of Papier-mache or Wood-Paste. 

mdche (which is best), or haid putty or cement. It 
may be gilded or painted. Windows may be prettily 
ornamented in this manner, even if not broken. 



ON REPAIRING AND RESTORING BOOKS, 
MANUSCRIPTS, AND PAPERS 

WITH DIRECTIONS FOR EASY BINDING AND 
PAPER-MENDING — BOOK-WORMS 

It happens often enough that some valuable old manu- 
script or early printed woik, if not destroyed as use- 
less, is sold for a trifle because it is torn and worm- 
eaten or otherwise injured. The loss to literature 
from this cause has been terrible, and it is all the 
more so because in most cases it was the result of 
sheer ignorance. 

Paper is a composition of linen, cotton, or other 
vegetable fibre reduced to powder and then combined 
with size, which is a kind of glue, paste, or binding 
medium. Therefore paper can be mended by using, in 
the soft, macerated, or pasty form, paper itself — which 
veiy simple fact appears to have been hitherto a 
secret from the greater portion of mankind. That is 
to say, having a piece of paper with a small round 
hole in it — looking as if some one had fired a shot 
through it — take another piece of paper of the same 
quality and reduce some of it to a very fine powder or 
mash it fine with a knife, combine it with good flour- 
paste infused with a little clear white glue, and make 
a soft paste with the powder ; then, laying a porcelain 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 87 

tile or piece of tin under the sheet, with a hole in it, 
to prevent sticking, spread the paste, which is leally 
soft paper, with a knife over the hole. When diy it 
will be mended permanently. Observe that the pulp 
must be a fine paste, not merely paper mixed with 
paste — i.e., lumpy and stiingy, but soft. Secondly, 
that a better " binder" or size than floui-paste is one 
made fiom scraps of parchment boiled, till all the 
gelatine is extracted. Take the latter and let it boil 
till thick. It makes a finely glazed surface. 

Do not begin to do this with a book, but with a 
sheet out of which holes have been punched. It is 
delicate work, and you must not expect to succeed in 
it at once. But in time, with care, you will remake 
the paper with great skill. There are workmen who 
can even reunite torn edges in this manner so that the 
mending is almost imperceptible. This is remaking 
paper with paper. In some cases it will suffice to 
simply neatly paste a piece of paper over a torn-away 
space. This may be done — as in most cases — very 
clumsily, or it may be performed artistically and 
daintily. In the latter case, using a very sharp and 
specially thin bladed penknife, shave down or scrape 
away the overlapping edge, and apply the paste spar- 
ingly with the point of a camel's-hair small brush. 
Before it is quite dry lay the leaf on a smooth, hard 
surface, and with the penknife or a burnisher flatten 
down the thinned edge to an uniform surface. This 
also requires a little practice, but when learned the 
artist may effect miracles of restoration. One may, 
and that not infrequently, buy for shillings books 
which when mended sell for many pounds. 

It often happens that we find some curious little 



88 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

old book which has been sadly cut or worn, almost 
down to the type. Take it, and with a flat rule care- 
fully cut out every page, leaving just a little rim of 
margin. Then having obtained old paper correspond- 
ing to your text, or good modern hand-made Dutch, 
using strong glue-paste or flour and gum-arabic, or 
paper-paste, make borders, on which paste the old 
pages. If you have old paper — there are dealers who 
can supply it — you may do this so well that the junc- 
ture will be hardly perceptible. In any case you will 
greatly enhance the value of the book. In this, as in 
all such work, never attempt to restore anything of 
value till you shall have succeeded by experimenting. 
This is very seldom done, and yet books thus restored 
sell for a price which must make the work very profit- 
able. One reason, however, why we see so little of 
it is the extravagant price charged for all such work 
by the agent who supplies it. 

The prices paid for books thus restored and mount- 
ed are extremely high, simply because there are so 
few people who know how to do it well ; and yet, as 
any of my readers may find, the art is an easy one, 
requiring only neatness and care. There are very 
few libraries where such restorers might not be em- 
ployed, to the very great profit of the collection. All 
purchasers for libraries are continually rejecting books 
because they are tattered and worn or " holey," which 
could be sent to the hospital and doctored into value. 
And it is, indeed, to be regretted for the sake of the 
public that our great libraries have not all shops at- 
tached where duplicates and damaged rarities re- 
stored could be sold at fair, not fancy, prices. For it 
is firstly the great librarian who sees and rejects the 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 89 

most books, and who could do an immense amount. 
of good, and greatly stimulate an interest in collec- 
tion and literature — and make money — if he would 
also facilitate acquisition. The art of lestoringand 
of mending is as yet so much in its infancy, and is so 
little understood and practised, that there is not one 
book in a thousand, even of rariora and curiosa, pre- 
served as it might be. 

It may be worth while to lay some stress on the 
fact that many persons, especially women, if they 
will take a little pains to experiment, can easily make 
a living by thus restoring books and injured docu- 
ments. There are, indeed, many other means of 
earning money indicated in this work. 

A cheap and durable varnish specially made for 
bookbinders is prepared as follows : — Take coarsely 
powdered gum-copal, add to it oil of thyme (oleum 
thy mi serpilli) or pure oil of rosemary {oleum rosmarini) y 
sufficient to form a solution. Pour off the superfluous 
liquid, and mix the remainder with sufficient alcohol 
to dissolve it well. In making take only so much of 
the oil of thyme or rosemary as will cover the copal, 
and of alcohol about eight or ten parts to the whole. 
Special varnishes, and perhaps better, are known to 
many bookbinders, who will sell them, or inform you 
where to obtain them. I know of none so good as 
that of Soehnee, which is, however, very expensive, 
costing about ninepence per ounce. It is rather brit- 
tle, however, for pictures. 

When a book is dog's-eared, or its leaves have been 
turned, if the paper be of a thin, poor quality, its 
chances of restoration are better than if it were good 
and stiff. In the former case damp the leaves one by 



9 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

one with water in which a little gum tragacanth has 
been infused. This is not so much an adhesive as a 
mere stiffener, and is used as such for laces. Then 
flatten them, putting a piece of smooth white paper 
between every leaf. 

Theie is, I fear, nothing to be done where the 
reader is so utterly devoid of all the instincts of a 
gentleman or a lady as to turn over a stiff, thick, 
highly glazed paper to mark the place ! I have just 
found this done in a magnificently illustrated work 
from a circulating library, and, to aggravate the 
offence, it was on pictured pages ! I would here re- 
mark that if every reader would keep by him a piece 
of indiarubber or eraser, and obliterate, or at least 
render illegible, all the scribblings made on margins, 
this detestably vulgar practice would soon be at 
an end. 

It may be observed that to repair pages which have 
been torn across, or engravings, the rent is usually 
transverse — that is, such as to leave a small flap edge. 
If we take very strong gum in very minute quantity 
on the point of a camel's-hair brush, we may often 
succeed with great care in perfectly reuniting the 
edges. Observe that in this, as in everything, the 
mender should not draw his conclusions from the first 
effort, which will probably be a failure, but fiom fre- 
quent careful observation and experiment. There are 
marvellously few people in the world who take the 
pains to become really good menders of anything — 
excepting lace and the like — hence there are few 
things mended at all except by botchers and amateurs. 

Ink-Stains can be removed from paper by laying 
underneath the blot a pad of clean blotting-paper or 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 91 

fine muslin. Take a fine sponge, dip it in lemon- 
juice, and press it gently on the stain, so as to moisten 
it. Then with a clean, white, soft rag, folded into a 
pad, press on the spot, and the pad, lifted off, will re- 
move a little of the ink. Repeat this process a few 
times, taking care to change the pad in your hand 
every time to a clean spot. Do not try to rub the stain 
out (as most people do), but to draw the ink away or 
out by sucking up or by absorption, If you simply 
rub or press the ink in again which has just been 
drawn out, you will only make bad worse. And here 
I would observe that by this process of pressing, ab- 
sorbing, and changing the " sucker" applied, you can 
draw appalling stains out of almost anything. You 
cannot, of course, prevent chemical action or change 
of colour, but in most cases this is the best process. 

It is better to begin with lemon-juice and a little 
salt and water where the paper is thin. When it is 
strong, a mixture of muriatic acid and water gener- 
ally extracts ink. 

In a great many cases the staining fluid can be 
drawn out by absorption before any chemical change 
in the colour of the stuff can have been effected. 
Therefore it is all-important to know how to do this 
yourself at once, and not wait till it can be sent to a 
dyer or scourer or cleaner. In a few hours' time that 
which could have been promptly extracted will be 
past all cure. When you spill ink on paper, promptly 
apply, first of all, blotting-paper, and then try absorp- 
tion. If any stain remains then, apply the acid. 

To take out a Grease-Spot. — Heat an iron (I gen- 
erally effect it with a burning cigar), and hold it as 
near as possible to the stain without burning the 



92 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

paper. If this be well done the grease, wax, &c, 
will rapidly disappear. If there are any traces left, 
place on it powdered calcined magnesia for a time. 
This is also a good means to extract grease, wax, or 
oil from cloth. Very often, where lemon-juice or 
acid would ruin the colour of a cloth or other fabric, 
chloroform will take out the spot and leave the colour 
unchanged. 

Bone, well calcined and powdered, is an excellent 
absorbent of grease. It should be remembered that 
all such processes must be renewed, for after the 
powder or cloth applied has received a certain quan- 
tity of the grease or stain, it ceases to be taken in. 
A gentle pressure or rubbing, after laying paper over 
the powder, facilitates the absorption. 

The celebrated Athanasius Ktrcher, who wrote in 
the sixteenth century, has left an amusing account of 
how he one night, stopping at a convent in Sicily, 
took a book from the library (it was Stephanus 
Fagundez' In Prcecep J a Ecclesice) — " a new book and 
elegantly bound" — and spilt over it and in it all the 
midnight oil from his lamp ! In great alarm he sent 
for quicklime, but there was none to be had. So he 
bade the monks bring him some bones, which he 
quickly calcined and pulverised and applied. And 
the next morning there was not a trace of a spot, only 
a little smell of oil, which soon vanished. He adds, 
that plaster of Paris would have done as well. 

Ascertain carefully the nature of the spot before 
trying to extract it. For resinous substances use 
spirits, or eau de cologne, or turpentine. Benzine 
extracts several substances. 

An old recipe for removing ink-stains was to take 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 93 

a spoonful of good aquafortis, in which break a piece 
of chalk the size of a large barley corn ; add two 
spoonfuls of rose-water and one of vinegar. This 
should be mixed in a clean glass and left to stand for 
seveial hours. It is to be applied with a piece of new 
sponge, by pressure, and not too freely nor too long. 
When the paper is nearly dry renew the process, and 
when the ink shall have disappeared, promptly wash 
out the acid with puie water and a clean linen rag. 
(But it is too strong for many fabrics.) 

When the ink does not penetrate the paper it can 
be removed by erasure with a sharp penknife, or a 
preparation of vulcanised indiarubber and powdered 
pumice-stone^ sold by most stationers. When this 
latter does not " bite," its action can be aided by very 
slightly moistening it. After erasure rub the spot 
scraped with very finely powdered pumice-stone, and 
polish with a burnisher or any smooth substance. 

Even when an inkstand has been spilled over a 
printed or long-written page, we can by prompt action 
extract the new ink and leave the old plain as ever ; 
but the reader who expects to work this miracle of 
changing night into day must not wait till the acci- 
dent happens to first attempt to remedy it, or he will 
probably fail. Let him first of all, not once but often, 
pour ink on some waste and worthless page, and then 
experiment first with the blotting-paper, then with 
the dilute acids and the padding. The time will not 
by any means be wasted. 

A fresh ink-spot can be easily removed from paper 
by rubbing it with a finely pulverised mixture of salt- 
petre, sulphur, alum, and pumice. If the spot is an 
old one, moisten it first a little with water. 



94 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Ink-spots, &c, in old MSS. were sometimes ingen- 
iously covered by ornaments in gold or colour. 

When an entire page or many pages of a book are 
missing, it often happens that, at much less expense 
than would be supposed, an ingenious printer can re- 
store the whole. There are many books for which it 
would be worth while to have the type cast, for even 
with a page thus restored the book may be worth ten 
times as much as if it were wanting. Missing pages 
are often supplied by photographic fac-similes from 
another copy. 

It was only yesterday, as I write, here in Florence, 
that I heard a tourist declare that there was nothing 
worth buying to be found, and that everything curi- 
ous was snapped up at once. To which I could not 
assent, never having seen so many objects as of late 
which I regarded as great bargains. But they were 
all dilapidated, and the tourist generally likes to see 
everything in splendid condition. To him who can 
restore old books and ivories and leather-work and 
panel pictures, there will be no lack of bargains for a 
long time anywhere. The men who sell are not all 
such marvellous experts in mending up, repairing, 
and forging as literary dealers in the wonderful would 
have us believe. If they were so clever they would 
not let valuable panel pictures split in two before their 
eyes from ignorance of knowing how to straighten 
and tack them at a penny's cost. There is abundance 
of clever forging, of lying ivories and silver-woik and 
sham antique leather, but of restoration of smaller or 
of single objects there is very little ; and there is, as 
I have said, in this a vast field for every collector who 
knows enough to make practical application of what 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 95 

is taught in this book. It is so far from true that 
everything is now snapped up, that I confidently as- 
sert that there is hardly a bric-a-brac shop in Europe 
in which a skilled repairer cannot find a bargain, and 
in most cases several. 

It will often be of service to the mender of books 
to be able to prepare parchment-paper for himself. 
If we take a mixture of one part nitric acid to three 
of water — the proportions varying very much with the 
quality of the acid and of the paper — and dip into it 
a piece of soft unglazed paper, the latter will at once 
harden into a substance like parchment. It should 
be at once washed in changes of pure water. I may 
here observe that neither in making this nor anything 
else should the operator be satisfied with a single ex- 
periment. 

Regarding paper, there are certain curious facts 
worth knowing by every reader. Before the inven- 
tion or general use of window-glass, a very transpar- 
ent kind of paper was, according to Kircher (De 
Secretis), prepared as follows : — 

Take paper from the mill, not as yet sized, and mix 
with it to six parts of turpentine two of mastic. This 
really makes a very clear, or at least diaphanous, 
medium, which may be used for temporarily repair- 
ing broken glass windows. 

The same writer informs us that if we take fine 
parchment (pergamenam h(zdinuiri)^ prepared without 
lime, or naturally dried, we should lay it in water, 
which will just cover it, in which has been well in- 
fused boiled honey and the white of eggs. This was 
used to repair coloured glass windows. 

There is also given in the Zauberbuch of Johann 



9 6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Wallberger, Frankfort, 1760, a recipe for the same 
purpose :- — 

" Take parchment prepared without lime, and steep 
it in a mixture of thick gum-arabic dissolved in water, 
the yolk of eggs well shaken, and clarified honey/' 

It is worth observing, as regards these recipes from 
old works, that while those founded on modern chem- 
istry and experiment are generally cheaper and appar- 
ently better, the former are often more durable in 
effect, and were, indeed, more thoroughly tested. 
There were a great many parchment windows in those 
days, and there are none now. And in these old 
works of Porta, Weckerus, Tenzelius, Kircher, 
Alexander of Piedmont, Mizaldus, Valentine 
Krautemann, and many more of which I have a large 
collection, there are many curious prescriptions, many 
of which I have seen revived from time to time of late 
years as modern scientific inventions — on which sub- 
ject an interesting article could be written. 

A weak solution of oxalic acid in water is often the 
best to remove ink and other stains from strong white 
paper or linen. It should be applied by gently press- 
ing or dabbing (not rubbing) with a cotton pad. As 
soon as the stain is removed, dab it again with clean 
water. Take good care, however, that there are no 
scratches or cuts on your fingers, for if the acid gets 
into them it will cause great pain. 

I may here mention that the old bookbinders' paste 
was made as follows : — - 

Take a quarter of a pound of starch, steep it a 
quarter of an hour in water, and stir it till it is milky. 
Add a pinch of alum, and boil it once more. 

This was said to keep better than paste made from 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 97 

flour. (Add a few drops of oil of cloves or carbolic 
acid, and it will keep very well.) Flour can, however, 
be used instead of starch, and a good adhesive be the 
result. A little glue very much improves it. There 
is a great difference in the quality of cement made 
from bread, as the condition of the latter has been 
changed by fermentation. 

Binding. — Repairing books is nearly allied to 'bind- 
ing, and the latter is, in perfection, a somewhat diffi- 
cult art. Yet it is not at all difficult for a careful 
person to bind up many works in such a manner that 
they will bear much reading, and with a little artistic 
skill look very well. This may be effected as fol- 
lows : — 

When a book is stitched together, there are sewed 
into the back two or more cross pieces of string or 
strips of muslin, which project a little on either side, 
and which, by being pasted down inside the cover 
under a leaf, hold the book and cover together. This 
is further strengthened sometimes by another strip of 
muslin. When the back is firmly gummed or pasted 
to the book, so as to bend with 
it, it is called a flexible back, 
which also adds to the strength p 
of the whole. 

If the reader will now take a 
simply sewn or stitched book, 
without binding, and will place 
across its back two or more strips L 
of parchment, and glue them on 
with the strongest possible ce- 
ment — mastic being the best, but acidulated glue or 
flour-paste with glue, or even dextrine-paste, will 



JUL--, 



9 8 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



answer the purpose — and if he will again paste up 
and down over these a strip just the width of the 
back, he will have all that is necessary to make a 
strong binding, for this will hold as well as the 
strings. Note that the parchment strips must first 
be thoroughly wet through and macerated, or crum- 
pled till quite soft. Again, that when the paste is 
nearly dry the strip should be rubbed in. 

Next cut out two pieces of strong pasteboard, each 
a very little larger than the length and width of the 
book. These are the covers. 

Now paste the outside of the straps exactly to the 
inside of the covers, leaving 
just enough space for opening 
and closing. When dry, the 
book should open and close 
easily. Then take the outer 
cover of leather or cloth, which 
is cut in the shape indicated 
in the accompanying outline, 
paste it well over the back, 
and then turn the edges over and paste them 
down over the cover inside, so as to form a narrow 
margin, as may be seen by examining any book. Also 
turn down, before doing this, the edges at the ends 
of the book. The binding will be much stronger if, 
after pasting the ends of the parchment strips to the 
covers, we paste over them in turn good, strong pieces 
of paper, close to the back, to prevent the strips from 
pulling up. 

If there be fly or blank leaves on the sides of the 
book, paste one of each down over the inside of the 
cover. This will conceal the margin and add greatly 



I 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 99 

to the strength of the book. But if there be none, 
you can supply thern, firstly, by a method which will 
make your binding even stronger than that of most 
books. Take a very strong piece, let us say, of What- 
man's or any other good tough linen drawing-paper, 
just of the size to cover the whole book — that is, back 
and sides. Cut in it four slits, and pass the strips 
which are to bind the book to the cover through, and 
gum them down, and then paste the fly-leaf thus 
added down over the strips. But it will answer every 
purpose if you simply gum fly-leaves on by a very 
narrow margin of "adhesive." All of this will be- 
come clear to any one who w T ill carefully examine a 
book. And anybody who has the dexterity to fold a 
letter neatly or do up a parcel properly, can in a shoit 
time, after one or two experiments, succeed in bind- 
ing a book in this manner. I have observed that 
those who fail as amateur bookbinders generally do 
so because they attempt too much too soon, and aim 
at producing elegant masterpieces before they have 
learned to manage with ease such common work as I 
have desciibed. 

Though this manner of strip-binding is little known, 
it was, strange to say, the very first ever practised ; 
for, according to Olympiodorus, one Philatius was 
the first who taught the use of glue to fasten written 
or blank leaves together, for which great discovery a 
statue was erected to him. Binders were called 
among the Romans ligatores, as they are still in Italy, 
legatori j and it was here, indeed, that I myself learned 
the craft, as I now generally bind my own books. 
Those who prepared and sold the covers for Roman 
booksellers Wjepe called scrutarii. 



ioo A MANUAL OF MENDING 

There is a very easy way to bind up pamphlets, 
MSS., or letters when they have any margin for a 
back. If you cannot have them stitched — which, 
though difficult to an inexpert, can be done for a mere 
trifle — then sew them together across from side to 
side. Where the pages are of gieat value, gum them 
together by a very narrow doubled or folded strip of 
adhesive. This done, bind as before, or else simply 
paste on a cover of drawing-paper at the back, and 
the fly-leaves to the sides. A great deal of loose lit- 
erature, flying leaves, clippings from newspapers, let- 
ters, &c, can in this way, at no great expenditure of 
time or money, be converted into really valuable 
books. 

I may here observe that cloth for binding, thin 
leather, and even common parchment or parchment- 
paper, are much cheaper than would be supposed, 
and that the average cost, all expenses included, of 
binding a duodecimo book in these would only be 
fiom threepence to a shilling. Any waste parchment 
will serve for binding. 

Any person, however, who can emboss leather with 
tracer and stamp, even though but a little, after a 
week's practice, can decorate and ornament books so 
as to greatly enhance their value. Nor do I exagger- 
ate when I say that here is a field in which any person 
who can draw or copy decorative patterns moderately 
well might make a living. The reader will find the 
fullest details as to how this is done in my Manual of 
Leather Work. (Price 5s. London, Whittaker & Co., 
2 White Hart Street, E.C.) In the present work I 
can only state that it is executed as follows : — Bind 
your book with cardboard in fairly thick, hard, and 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 101 

firm brown leather ; there is a kind made for the pur- 
pose in Germany. Draw the pattern on it, or else 
draw it on paper with a crayon-pencil, and rub it 
from the back on the leather. This done, go over it 
with the fine point of a miniature brush in Indian 
ink. Dampen the leather slightly as you work with 
a sponge, and mark the outline with a tracer and 
stamp the ground with a matt. You may leave it 
brown, but if the work be coarse, I advise painting 
the whole with ink or Indian ink, and then coating it 
with Soehnee's varnish, No. 3. Rub this down well 
by hand. 

If you can supply the design (which should always 
be bold and simple), any wood-carver will, for a few 
shillings, execute it in intaglio on a block of wood, 
which should be at least one inch in thickness, and 
also have a transverse piece screwed to its back to 
prevent its warping. With this you can stamp off as 
many covers as you want. Retouch them by hand 
with tracer and stamp. If blackened, and then 
touched up with gilding and varnished, such books 
are very attractive, and should sell well. Any person 
who can design, or even trace, a pattern can have it 
cut on a block for a few shillings, and anybody hav- 
ing such a block can print off any number of impres- 
sions in damp leather, and retouch them with stamp 
and tracer, and glue them to cardboard covers, for 
books or albums, and sell them at a good profit. Yet, 
though this has been clearly set forth by me several 
times in manuals, &c, I have never yet met with a 
single amateur who has attempted it. There is as a 
rule far more suffering in this world from laziness, in- 
ertness, and an indisposition to try to do something 



io2 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

than from any other contaminating influences which 
lead to poverty. 

When a book is even woefully dilapidated, so that 
there is no margin to stitch, do not despair. First 
separate every leaf, smooth it, and, if necessary, 
dampen it with a slight infusion of tragacanth. Then, 
if there is even the twentieth part of an inch of mar- 
gin left, take strips of good, tough, thin paper, and 
with care stitch the leaves to these strips. For some 
severe cases you must use very thin transparent or 
tracing paper to gum over the text, but which must 
be visible through it. This, if neatly done, does not 
look so badly as it would seem. If one strip be folded 
and used to connect two leaves, the stitching and 
binding become easy. I have already described how 
to restore margins and fill worm-holes. 

I think that if any person of literary habits will 
consider all that is written in this chapter, and will 
begin to practise it with deliberation and care, he will 
surely succeed, and find it a very profitable and agree- 
able occupation. All of such men have pamphlets, 
MSS., autographs, letters, newspaper clippings, and 
papers, which, if classed and made up into book- 
form, would be more available for use, and far more 
valuable. I say nothing of repairing old books ; it 
speaks for itself as an easy and lucrative employment. 
And it may be observed that a young man who can 
thus bind and repair would make a most valuable as- 
sistant-librarian, though the business can be mastered 
very soon indeed ; and it would often happen that rn 
choosing a secretary, where there are many papers to 
file or a library to look after, or an assistant in an 
antiquarian book-shop — particularly the latter — pref- 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 103 

erence would be given to one who had mastered prac- 
tically what is taught in this chapter. And as on 
board ship the best sailor is generally the best mender 
— every old tar being proverbially skilled in repairing 
and having a quick eye for emergencies, even on 
shore — so the one who can rehabilitate and " form" 
books will probably be a good assistant in all things. 

It may often happen to a writer or copyist that he 
has occasion to erase a word, and cannot write over 
the space lest the ink should spread. In old times 
this was remedied as follows : — A very little juniper 
gum, levigated to the finest powder, was rubbed over 
the spot with a soft linen rag. 

In all kinds of repairing or technical work it is some- 
times necessary to draw circles when the artist has 
no compasses. Yet this can be done to perfection, 
almost by free-hand, and very easily. Take several 
sheets of paper or a blotter ; lay on it the piece to be 
drawn on. Take a pencil in the fingers, as is usual, 
rest the hand on the nail of the little finger as a point 
— having previously pulled the sleeve of his coat well 
up, so as to get a full view — and then with the left 
hand draw or revolve the paper. In most cases a 
perfect circle will be the result. This is admirable 
practice for learning to draw circles entirely by free 
hand, as may be found by experiment. 

Paper can be made, if not absolutely fire-proof, at 
least deprived of inflammability, by being steeped in 
alum-water, or in oleum tartari per deliquiwn, or oil of 
tartar. Stationers might find a sale for such paper. 
If the document which was thrown by a certain 
Duchess into the fire had been thus prepared, it might 
have been rescued by a bystander before it perished. 



104 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



The art of preservation, or prevention of injury, is 
allied to restoration, for which reason it would be 
well if more people who send books by mail would 
use protecting corners, which can readily be made by 
anybody with a pair of strong scissors from thin sheet 
brass, tin, or iron. Take a piece of metal of a rec- 
tangular shape, as follows : — 




Then double it into a triangle over a piece of card- 
board, or of wood, exactly the thickness of the cover 
of the book : — 




Very valuable books should be kept in boxes of thin 
metal, especially in India. Such cases should not be 
made to open and shut with a hinged lid, but with a 
covering, and like a cigar case. Such cases, or at 
least metallic guards, should also be used when a 
book is wrapped and tied in the usual manner and 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 



105 



sent by mail. I am quite sure that at least every 
other book which I have received by mail during the 
past year has shown on its edges melancholy scars 
from its strings, reminding one of the wounds which 
the heroic red Indian retained from his bonds. A 
guard is simply a piece of sheet-metal, bent as fol- 
lows, once or twice : — 



These guards are invaluable for packing books in 
trunks. Their price is trifling, and in the end there 
would be great economy in using them. Books 
should not be packed very tightly together on their 
shelves. It bursts the binding, especially of modern 
works in boards and paper. The old parchment flexi- 
ble bindings were in every respect better, and they 
could even now be made far more cheaply than is 
generally supposed to be possible. I have before me 
a book nearly three hundred years old, bound in 
skiver parchment (split, or very thin), which has evi- 
dently been much used, yet which is still in good 
condition. But parchment need not be prepared very 
carefully for ordinary binding, and it could be sold 
for half the price charged by law stationers for what 
is used to write on. In the United States one must 
pay much more for a sheepskin than for a sheep, in- 
deed in some cases three or four times as much — that 



106 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

is to say, the skin as a parchment in New York costs 
as much as three sheep in the Far West — and yet the 
expense of bringing the skin to the East and of tan- 
ning it are in no proportion whatever to the stationer's 
profits. 

Any one who will examine an ordinary old parch- 
ment-bound book, such as lies before me, will see at 
a glance why it must be more durable than a modern 
binding. In the modern book the stiff back rises full 
to the edge, or generally above the level of the sides, 
and is made of muslin, paper, or at best of soft 
leather. Therefore in time it breaks from pressure 
and friction, or wears away. The parchment or vel- 
lum had in most cases this back-edge put back or 
kept down as much as possible, and the tough cover- 
ing was all in one piece. It is very true that it is not 
possible to obtain plain, old-fashioned parchment 
now, and that those who would have vellum, 01 even 
sheep, must pay an enormous price for it. This 
would not, however, be the case long if there were as 
great a popular demand for parchment binding as 
there now is for flimsy muslin. Those who prefer 
the former will find no difficulty in having it made 
for them, and in binding their books themselves ac- 
cording to the directions which I have given. 

I shall in the chapter on Papier-mache show how 
covers for books may be cheaply made at no great 
expense, which may be beautifully embossed and are 
extremely durable. This is, briefly, by having a flat 
mould or die, on which lay alternate coats of paper 
and firm paste (into which glue and alum enter), then 
passing over them a bread-ioller, continually adding 
paste and paper till the whole is complete. When 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 107 

finished, rub in black or any other colour, then rub 
in oil, rub again, apply Soehnee, No. 3, and finally 
rub by hand. This will make very beautiful binding. 

It is much to be regretted that, although there has 
been of late years, owing to machinery and patent 
processes, such immense production of cheap and 
showy binding, as shown in photograph albums, 
there has been as steady and rapid decrease in qual- 
ity, strength, and durability. It is becoming unusual, 
even in very expensive books, to find one which can 
be honestly and well opened or is well stitched. I 
have, since writing that last word, tested it with two 
books recently published, one costing six shillings, 
the other a guinea. The latter was fairly well put 
together and " held," but was warped in the stitching 
and pasting. It was " bad work." As for the six 
shilling book, it cracked clear through to the back at 
every page which I opened, and yet I did not open it 
very widely. I should say that any amateur who 
could not learn to bind books better in a month or 
six weeks than these were bound must be stupid in- 
deed. The examination of a number of other books 
shows that what I have said is now generally true, 
and that even very expensive and pretentiously ele- 
gant works are not half so well bound in reality as 
were common and cheap school-books two hundred 
years ago. This I have also confirmed by examining 
a number of the latter bound in parchment, which 
bid fair to last for centuries to come. 

Should this cheap, trashy, and showy style of bind- 
ing continue, and with it a constant rise in the price 
of everything made by hand, the result will be that 
everything durable will be made by " amateurs" — 



108 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

that is, by people who to artistic spirit unite a certain 
personal independence. Owners of libraries will bind 
their own books, or else employ people who will work 
as artists, and not like mere machines. The vulgar 
and ignorant will continue to buy showy, cheap dupli- 
cates — induced by hearing, " 'Ere's an harticle, mum, 
that we're sellin' a great many hof" — while the cul- 
tured will prefer the hand-made, which is not neces- 
sarily more expensive. In fact, if the unemployed in 
England---or the victims of the wholesale steam trash- 
maker — could be taught easy hand-work, as they all 
can be, it would be possible to not only vastly relieve 
national poverty, but we could have a variety of arti- 
cles of better quality. For it appears to be, by some 
strange law, a fact that, with all the improvements in 
machinery, men can still make by hand — and well — 
pictures, clothes, shoes or boots, bookbindings, and 
works of art generally — that is to say, anything in 
which skill or character can be shown ; while, on the 
contrary, in all such matters machinery, instead of 
making any progress, is, owing to competition, actu- 
ally falling behind ! Scientific and other journals are 
continually boasting of new discoveries and improve- 
ments, but despite this the jerry-built houses of three- 
fourths of London, the sawed and glued cheap and 
vile furniture (made by scientific steam) with which 
they are filled, the average quality of everything into 
which skill and taste are supposed to enter, show that 
this boasted " end of the century' ' is also rapidly 
coming to an end in good taste and the quality of its 
work. 

He who will learn to mend with care, taste, and 
skill, firstly his books, will find that, to progress from 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 109 

this to binding and to making elegant covers is only 
going from A to B. The binding of the olden time, 
while it was incredibly strong, vigorous, and quaint, 
was extremely easy to make, as I have satisfied myself 
by much examination and personal 'practice. The 
stitching was hot with the weakest and cheapest cot- 
ton-thread ; still less was it with wires too thin for 
the purpose ; it was executed with linen pack-thread, 
from the top to the bottom of the page, in three or four 
stitches, so that the book could really be opened and 
bent back till the covers touched without injury to 
it. All of which could be given to-day with the 
parchment covers at the same price which the book 
now costs, and to pay the same profit, were it not that 
public "taste" prefers showy trash. Beyond good, 
strong stitching, all the necessary process of binding is 
very easy. It requires neatness and care, and some 
practice, but it is decidedly not difficult. He who 
has mastered it will find that other kinds of mending, 
and also the practice of allied minor arts, are simply 
the succeeding letters of the alphabet. 

It is a fact, to which I invite attention, that dilet- 
tante amateurs of books invariably understand by 
binding nothing more than its refinements and easily 
ruined adornment, which books had better be with- 
out. Amateurs of this class always attempt at once 
the most difficult work, and generally fail. As a rule, 
almost without exception, the prize specimens of 
modern binding seen at exhibitions are chiefly remark- 
able for ornament, which will not endure handling or 
rubbing, such as surface-gilding. 

Pamphlets or letters, &c, can be bound with " eye- 
lets," and the clamp or punch which is sold with 



no A MANUAL OF MENDING 

them. Or they may be simply gummed together, in 
which case use the powerful fish-glue, which holds 
perfectly. 

The easiest and most effective method of side-bind- 
ing, or where leaves are held together by passing the 
tie through from side to side, is as follows : — Have 
by you strips of metal, say sheet-tin, one-fourth or 
one-third of an inch in breadth ; also small livets or 
tacks. Take two strips of the same length as the 
pamphlet or papers to be bound, and strike holes in 
them with a brad-awl and hammer, on a solid piece 
of wood, at regular distances. Then place these 
strips on the book, and drive the rivets through the 
holes. Turn the whole round, and laying the other 
side on an anvil or a reversed flat-iron, flatten the 
points of the rivets so that they will hold. Any old 
tins, such as are thrown away in such numbers, can 
be made to supply strips. A stiip of parchment or 
strong paper bent over to form a back can then be 
pasted over the strips to improve the appearance of 
the volume. Any tinman will, for a trifle, supply 
these strips and punch the holes neatly for use. They 
should be found in every library, and ought to be in 
every stationer's. It may be observed that in insert- 
ing the rivets or tacks you should place them altei- 
nately, one on one side and one on the other. A 
lighter form of this binding is to take a flat-headed 
drawing-pin, similar to those used by aitists, and 
have a round, flat tin or brass disc, like a thin six- 
pence or threepenny-bit, corresponding to it. In the 
latter punch a small hole, and rivet as before. Tinmen 
will also punch these discs ; in fact, they often throw 
away a great many cut from certain kinds of woik. 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. in 

Where the leader may have a gieat number of 
books to bind, he will find it an economy 01 a means 
to secuie good work to hiie a giil who is an experi- 
enced book-stitcher to come and woik for him. He 
can thus be sure of having his works well sewed from 
top to bottom with strongest linen-thread in ancient 
style, instead of their being shabbily wired (and all 
wiring is shabby, since the thin does not hold, and 
the thick bursts the binding), or still more shabbily 
looped together with weak cotton-thread. This 
effected, he can easily do his own binding. He may 
not rival a Grolier, or turn out such exquisite " gems" 
as requiie to be kept in caskets, and are utterly un- 
suitable for use or reading, and, like most " elegant 
and unrivalled" modern binding, marvels of tooling 
and gilding. But he can most assuredly hope to bind 
strongly in parchment as books were bound in the 
olden time, and if he chooses to also ornament them 
with richly stamped leather covers, he can in a short 
time learn to do the latter, as may be seen in the 
Manual of Leather- Work. 

The great test of excellence in a book is, Can it be 
freely handled and read without injury ? The most 
careless examination of most books will convince the 
reader that this test is almost unknown. The ex- 
quisitely whitened vellum bindings of Florence and 
Venice, which are stained almost with thepressuie of 
a lady's clean fingei ; the photogtaph album, so 
beautifully stamped in leather as thin as blotting- 
paper, which sciatches and weais into shabbiness in 
a week, if often opened — all the show-pieces of ex- 
hibitions will not enduie use. And it seems as if, 
after all the binding of this decade shall have per- 



ii2 A MANUAL. OF MENDING 

ished, that of the common, cheap books of the seven- 
teenth century will be as good as ever. 

A great number of the adhesives and cements men- 
tioned in this book ate quite applicable to mending 
bindings or making paper stick to paper, &c. The 
following is, however, not only a paste, but also a 
glaze, and is extensively used as such on labels, boxes, 
and cards : — 

Boil borax with water, and work it thoroughly into 
caseine till it forms a clear, thick, and extremely ad- 
hesive cement, which is also much used to varnish 
leather or muslins. 

It is often desirable to have a varnish or glaze for 
the covers of books, and still more frequently a paste, 
which will hold very firmly and yet not penetrate, as 
glue and paste very often do. 

To make such a cement, mix heavy solution of 
warm glue with freshly made starch or flour-paste. 
Add to this one-fourth part of turpentine and one- 
fourth of spirits of wine. This excellent cement is 
applicable to many purposes. 

To paper walls well we make flour-paste, and to 
every quart add ten grammes of alum dissolved in hot 
water. Then wash the wall with glue-water, and 
cover the paper with the paste. The alum and glue 
form a combination which is leathery and insoluble, 
and not only arrests decay, but clings with great 
force. Most wall-paper put on with common paste 
decays moie or less in time, and becomes simply 
poisonous. 

A STRONG GUM OR ADHESIVE FOR PAPER, CARDBOARD 
WORK, OR BINDING : — 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 113 



Dissolve : — 

Gilder's glue ..... 100 

Water . . . . . . 200 

Add to this : — 

Bleached shellac .... 2 

Alcohol ...... iq 



II. 



Dissolve together 



Dextrine ...... 50 

Water ...... 50 

Unite the two solutions thus formed ; pass them 
through a cloth, so as to fall into a flat mould. When 
dry, use by dissolving in hot water. 

American glaze for postage-stamps : — 

Dextrine ...... 2 

Vinegar ...... 1 

Water 5 

Alcohol 1 

Stamps are, however, very often surreptitiously re- 
moved by means of moisture. The following recipe 
renders this difficult. It consists of two preparations, 
one of which is applied to the stamp and one to the 
letter. It is particularly needed in America, where, 
according to a statement in a newspaper, nearly one- 
third of all the postage-stamps are removed from let- 
ters, cleaned, and used over again. 



ii4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 



I . For the Letter. 




Chromic acid .... 


2 -S g r < 


Caustic potash 


J 5-° » 


Water 


r 5° >, 


Sulphuric acid .... 


o-5 M 


Sulphuric copper-oxide of am- 
monia ..... 


[30.0 ,, 


Fine paper .... 


4-0 ,, 


II. On the Stamp. 




Sturgeon's bladder in water . 


7.0 gr, 


Vinegar ..... 


1.0 ,, 



The chromic acid forms with the glue a substance 
insoluble in water, which causes the stamp not to 
yield to moisture. The two should be kept in two 
cups, and the letter first smeared with one and the 
stamp with the other. I have read of a physician 
who, finding that his postage-stamps were often stolen, 
adopted the precaution of giving their backs an ap- 
plication of croton-oil, or some similar poweiful 
" anti-thief-matic," the result of which was great tem- 
porary illness in his landlady and her family. For 
this recipe the reader must apply to a chemist ! 

Eder's Gum for Photographs. — Dissolve oxyhy- 
drate of ammonia in vinous acid, to one part of which 
add twenty of starch-paste. 

Cement for Leather or Paper in Binding Books, 
&c. — Take 1 kilogramme of wheat-flour, and make it 
to a paste with 20 grammes of finely powdered alum. 
Boil this till a spoon will stand uptight in it. Cover 
the cardboard or cover with this, lay the leather or 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 115 

muslin upon it, and then with a roller press one upon 
the other. Leather should first be damped. Care 
must be taken that the paste be not too moist ; sec- 
ondly, that it is laid on very evenly and thinly. 

Engravings or texts which have had a piece torn 
out can be restored as follows : — 

Obtain a photograph from a perfect copy on corre- 
sponding paper, then with gum set it in, so as to sup- 
ply the deficiency. 

As the ravages of the Book-worm form an important 
item in mending books, and as there is always some 
interest for collectors regarding this much talked of 
and rarely seen insect, I take the liberty of reproduc- 
ing from the American Science of March 24, 1893, an 
ai tide on the subject. An appropriate motto for it 
might be : — 

;< Come hither, boy ; we'll hunt to-day 
The book- worm, ravening beast of prey." 



THE RAVAGES OF BOOK-WORMS 

At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- 
ety, held February 9, 1893, Dr. Samuel A. Green, 
after showing two volumes that had been completely 
riddled by the ravages of insects, as well as some 
specimens of the animals in various stages, made the 
following remarks : — 

For a long period of years I have been looking for 
living specimens of the so-called " book-worm/' of 
which traces are occasionally found in old volumes ; 
and I was expecting to find an invertebrate animal of 



n6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

the class of annelids. In this library at the present 
time there are books perforated with clean-cut holes 
opening into sinuous cavities, which usually run up 
the back of the volumes, and sometimes perforate the 
leather covers and the body of the book ; but I have 
never detected the live culprit that does the mischief. 
For the most part the injury is confined to such as are 
bound in leather, and the ravages of the insect appear 
to depend on its hunger. The external orifices look 
like so many shot-holes, but the channels are any- 
thing but straight. From a long examination of the 
subject I am inclined to think that all the damage 
was done before the library came to this site in the 
spring of 1833. At all events, there is no reason to 
suppose that any of the mischief has been caused 
during the last fifty years. Perhaps the furnace- 
heat dries up the moisture which is a requisite con- 
dition for the life and propagation of the little ani- 
mal. 

Nearly two years ago I received a parcel of books 
from Florida, of which some were infested with ver- 
min, and more or less perforated in the manner I have 
described. It occurred to me that they would make 
a good breeding farm and experiment station for 
learning the habits of the insect ; and I accordingly 
sent several of the volumes to my friend Mr. Samuel 
Garman, who is connected with the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology at Cambridge, for his care and ob- 
servation. From him I learn that the principal offend- 
er is an animal known popularly as the Buffalo Bug, 
though he is helped in his work by kindred spirits, 
not allied to him according to the rules of natural his- 
tory. Mr. Garman's letter gives the result of his 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 117 

labours so fully as to leave nothing to be desired, and 
is as follows : — 

" Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, 
•Mass., February 7, 1893. 

" Dr.. Samuel A. Green, Boston, Mass. 

''Sir, — The infested books sent for examination to 
this Museum, through the kindness of Mr. George E. 
Littlefield, were received July 15, 1891. They were 
inspected, and, containing individuals of a couple of 
species of living insects, were at once enclosed in 
glass for further developments. A year afterward 
live specimens of both kinds were still at work. Be- 
sides those that reached us alive, a third species had 
left traces of former presence in a number of empty 
egg-cases. 

" Five of the volumes were bound in cloth. On 
these the principal damage appeared at the edges, 
which were eaten away and disfigured by large bur- 
rows extending inward. Two volumes were bound 
in leather. The edges of these were not so much 
disturbed ; but numerous perforations, somewhat like 
shot-holes externally, passed through the leather, en- 
larging and ramifying in the interior. As if made by 
smaller insects, the sides of these holes were neater 
and cleaner cuttings than those in the burrows on 
the edges of the other volumes. 

" The insects were all identified as well known ene- 
mies of libraries, cabinets, and wardrobes. One of 
them is a species of what are commonly designated 
1 fish bugs,' ' silver fish,' * bristle tails,' &c. By en- 
tomologists they are called Lepisma j the species in 



n8 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

hand is probably Lepisma saccharina. It is a small, 
elongate, silvery, very active creatuie, frequently dis- 
covered under objects, or between the leaves of books, 
whence it escapes by its extraordinary quickness of 
movement. Paste and the sizing or enamel of some 
kinds of paper are very attractive to it. In some 
cases it eats off the entire surface of the sheet, includ- 
ing the ink, without making perforations ; in others 
the leaves are completely destroyed. The last speci- 
men of this insect in these books was killed February 
5, 1893, which proves the species to be sufficiently at 
home in this latitude. 

" The second of the three is one of the * Buffalo 
Bugs/ or * Carpet Bugs,' so called ; not really bugs, 
but beetles. The species before us is the Anthrenus 
varius of scientists, very common in Boston and Cam- 
bridge, as in other portions of the temperate regions 
and the tropics. Very likely the * shot-holes " in the 
leather-bound volumes are of its making, though it 
may have been aided in the deeper and larger cham- 
bers by one or both of the others. The damage done 
by this insect in the house, museum, and library is 
too well known to call for further comment. Living 
individuals were taken from the books nearly a year 
after they were isolated. 

' The third species had disappeared before the ar- 
rival of the books, leaving only its burrows, excre- 
ment, and empty egg-cases, which, however, leave no 
doubt of the identity of the animal with one of the 
cockroaches, possibly the species Blatta Australasia. 
The cases agree in size with those of Blatta Americana, 
but have thirteen impressions on each side, as if the 
number of eggs were twenty-six. The ravages of the 



REPAIRING BOOKS, ETC. 119 

cockroaches are greatest in the tropics, but some of 
the species range through the temperate zones and 
even northward. An extract from Westwood and 
Drury will serve to indicate the character of their 
work :— 

" ' They devour all kinds of victuals, dressed and 
undressed, and damage all sorts of clothing, leather, 
books, paper, &c, which, if they do not destroy, at 
least they soil, as they frequently deposit a drop of 
their excrement where they settle. They swarm by 
myriads in old houses, making every part filthy be- 
yond description. They have also the power of mak- 
ing a noise like a sharp knocking w T ith the knuckle 
upon the wainscotting, Blatta giga?itea being thence 
known to the West Indies by the name of drummer ; 
and this they keep up, replying to each other, through- 
out the night. Moreover, they attack sleeping per- 
sons, and will even eat the extremities of the dead.' 

"This quotation makes it appear that authors as 
well as books are endangered by this outlaw. With 
energies exclusively turned against properly selected 
examples of both, what a woild of good it might do 
mankind ! The discrimination lacking, the insect 
must be treated as a common enemy. As a bane for 
1 silver fish ' and cockroaches, pyrethrum insect pow- 
der is said to be effectual. For a number of years I 
have used, on lepisma and roach, a mixture contain- 
ing phosphorus, ' The Infallible Water Bug and Roach 
Exterminator,' made by Barnard & Co., 7 Temple 
Place, Boston, and, without other interest in adver- 
tising the compound, have found it entirely satisfac- 
tory in its effects. Bisulphide carbon, evaporated in 
closed boxes or cases containing the infested articles, 



i2o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

is used to do away with the ' Buffalo Bugs.' — Very 
respectfully yours, 

" Samuel Garman." 

I can remember that many years ago there was to 
be seen in the bookshop of John Penington, Philadel- 
phia, a book-worm preserved in spirits in a vial. The 
manner in which this species of teredo penetrates 
wood and leather as well as paper is not the least 
curious of its habits. 

The great amount of injury inflicted by boring-in- 
sects in books, wood, and all weak substances is suffi- 
cient reason for giving so much space to this subject. 
From a ship to a manuscript, nothing is safe from 
them. 



PAPIER-MACHE 

REPAIRING TOYS — MAKING GROUNDS FOR PIC- 
TURES AND WALLS— CARTON-CUIR AND CAR- 
TON-PIERRE 

Soft paper, when mixed with water, gum, or, better 
still, with flour-paste, forms a substance which can 
be moulded to any form, and which, when dry, will 
be as hard as cardboard. Its hardness and durability 
may be increased by mingling with it many sub- 
stances. 

Combined with soft leather in small fragments or 
with the dust of leather, it forms what the French 
call carton-cuir. In this, or even in its natural state — 
that is, paper and paste — papier-mache, as it is termed, 
can under pressure be made as hard as any wood. I 
have seen all kinds of articles of furniture made from 
it. In America there are manufactories in which 
pails or buckets, tubs, firkins, and even durable boats, 
are thus manufactured. There is in Bergen, Norway, 
a church built entirely of it mixed with lime. For 
certain kinds of mending it is very valuable. 

Though not so plastic as clay, papier-mache can, 
with a little practice, be moulded into any form. It 
consists simply of pasting piece on to piece, pressing 
it meantime as much as possible with the fingers or a 



122 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

wooden implement like a pestle. The pressure should 
be applied as it gradually dries. Any one can thus 
make very hard cardboard with a bread-roller on a 
board. 

If you have the cardboard cover of a book badly 
damaged, with even a portion gone, it can be restored 
by using papier-mache in which a solution of glue or 
gum has been infused. Glue it specially at the 
edges. For such repairing take paper-dust or pulp, 
combined with gum-arabic in alum-water solution, or 
simply the gum. This is easily moulded and smoothed 
into any cracks or torn places. 

If parchment be torn away it is easily replaced. Cut 
a piece to replace the missing portion, dampen it and 
the edge which it is to join till quite soft, then glue 
the two together, using pressure. I have just effected 
this myself with a cover of which half was gone, and 
the mending is hardly visible. Use the broad knife 
freely to press down the edges. 

By combination with a mixture of nitric or sul- 
phuric acid and water, soft paper becomes parchment- 
like and very hard. This requires careful experi- 
menting, for its success depends on the quality of the 
acid and the texture of the paper. Very remarkable 
results have been obtained from this, such as mate- 
rial resembling ivory, horn, and tortoise-shell, in large 
blocks. 

Waste-paper is so common and cheap that papier- 
mdche can always be made anywhere. It is well 
adapted to close cracks in wood, walls, or elsewhere ; 
and for those who wish for an employment or amuse- 
ment, it affords endless facilities. One of these is the 
mending or making of toys. 



PAPIER-MACHE 123 

A common mask is made as follows. On a face 
carved in wood and oiled there is spread common 
coarse soft paper wetted, which is carefully pressed 
down, and more paper and paste added, till it is of 
the requisite thickness. It is then, when rather dry, 
taken off and left to dry perfectly. It is then painted 
and varnished. Should a mask be broken, wet it, 
paste glue-paper over it, and paint it again. 

Papier-mache is popularly synonymous with that 
which is trashy and sham in ait, simply because its 
capacities and applications are not known. Thus 
leather-work was long despised as only affording imi- 
tations of carved wood. But in the hands of a true 
artist — that is, of an original designer, who applies, 
and not a mere artisan, who imitates or copies— papier- 
mdche is as much a subject for art as any other mate- 
rial. It can be used in many ways, more or less allied 
to mending, as are all arts. Thus paper in fine pow- 
der, or reduced to a fine paste — or pulp — can be, with 
a little practice, mixed with gum and painted with a 
brush on a surface so as to produce relief. A very 
little elevation or depression thus serves to produce 
grounds which may serve to give light or shadow to 
pictures. Thus pastel painting or crayon in colours 
rubbed in, which has always been, even in the most 
vigorous hands, a weak or " softly sweet" art, may 
be made very vigorous by firmly relieving and rough- 
ening the ground ; for, as the great American painter, 
Allston, often strengthened his colours by mixing 
sand with them, so pastel painting which lacks 
" sand" can have it supplied by mixing it with the 
gum for the ground. 

To understand this process more clearly, let it be 



i2 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

observed that, as the illuminators of mediaeval manu- 
scripts gave relief and the appearance of solidity to 
gold by making a raised surface with a powder of 
gesso (plaster of Paiis) and clay and gum, so this 
principle can be carried out to a far greater extent by 
giving relief to a ground. Here those of limited 
views, who never get beyond the merely artisan stage 
of art, will at once decry this as shamming, and as 
imitating effect by the aid of modelling, and not being 
true art, quite forgetting that all is true to genius, 
and everything more or less sham in the mere imita- 
tion. 

Having a surface, either panel or Bristol board, 
which latter had better be pasted to a panel or good 
thick solid caidboard, begin by taking a little gum or 
glue in tolerably fluid solution on the point of a brush, 
and incorporating with it the paper pulp or cloth- 
dust to a very soft paste, with which paint what is to 
be in relief. The same effect is produced in oil by 
using a heavier, thicker kind of paint. That is all 
the difference, one being as legitimate as the other. 
By intermixing chalk or sand or clay, and by using 
glass-paper where the crayon, &c, refuse to take 
easily, the relief adapts itself to every substance. In 
this, as in every process known, the artist must at first 
experiment a little, according to his materials. 

Solid sheets of fine hard paper, with strong paste 
between, when passed between rollers form a kind of 
papier-mache which is as hard as wood, fire-proof, and, 
what is most singular, more durable than iron. 
Wheels for railway carriages are often made of it, 
and they never warp under the action of heat or cold, 
neither do they crack nor bend. You can make this 



PAPIER-MACHE 125 

caidboaid for youiself of veiy good quality by this 
process : — Take a sheet of writing- paper — -the better 
the quality the better the result will be — cover it with 
good flour-paste in which there is a little alum and 
glue and a few drops of oil of cloves, which latter will 
prevent paste from turning or souring. Then lay on 
this another sheet, apply another coat of paste, and 
when it is a little dry or past the softer stage, yet 
while still capable of adhesion, lay the sheets on a 
hard, smooth slab or table, and pass a roller over 
them, at first gently, but eventually frequently, and 
with force. Add as many sheets as necessary for the 
thickness required. It will be understood that if the 
surface on which this sheet is formed were an intaglio- 
cut die or mould, the cardboard when taken up would 
present abas-relief of it as hard as any wood, and the 
whole would form a panel which could be used for 
the side of a box or to be set in a cabinet. If made 
of good paper and firmly rolled, this panel will be in 
every respect equal to wood for all decorative pur- 
poses. 

As anybody who can carve wood at all can cut 
moulds, and as a wooden mould, if kept well oiled 
(or otherwise secured from yielding to moisture), will 
serve for papier-mache and leather or wood-paste cast- 
ing, it is remarkable that such work is so very little 
practised by the students of the minor arts. That 
such panels can be very easily and rapidly made I 
know by experience ; that the materials for the woik 
are cheap speaks for itself ; and, finally, that beauti- 
ful panels for cabinets and doors, whether made of 
carved wood, stamped leather, or papier-mdche, bring 
a very good price will also be most apparent to any- 



i26 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

body who will go to a fashionable cabinetmaker and 
Older them. Thus we will say that a small plain cab- 
inet costs ^5. Put into it six panels, really costing 
about 6d. each to mould, and the price will be^io. 
Such pressed panels are admirably adapted for bind- 
ing books, as, when properly made and diied, they 
cannot warp or bend. If coveied with lelief they 
may be made very beautiful. Simply blackened or 
browned, then rubbed with oil, varnished with 
Soehnee, No. 3, and rubbed by hand, they are as 
beautiful as polished wood or leather. 

Papier-mache, pulp, or paper powder can be com- 
bined with caoutchouc or indiar libber, which latter 
can be itself dissolved in benzine, camphine, sulphuiic 
ether, and other solvent mediums, so as to form a 
paste which becomes like indiaiubber when dry or as 
it hardens. Mixed with sulphur this forms vulcanite. 
Or it may be combined with white colouiing matter 
of almost any kind. This can be applied to mending 
the broken noses of dolls, or any other wounds which 
these pretty semblances of humanity often receive, 
their beauty being unfortunately generally more 
shortlived than that of their prototypes. The final 
finish of such reparation is a coat of paint. In many 
cases this is better when rubbed on with the finger 
than when directly painted. The reader who shall 
have studied this work will find no difficulty in restor- 
ing any toy. 

I may, however, here remark that " no solution of 
indiarubber can be well moulded without intimate 
intermixture of sulphur, aided by heat and pressure. 
This is a difficult process, and the amateur would do 
well, therefore, to purchase rubber composition, which 




PAPIER-MACHE 127 

he may do at any large shop in which rubbei goods 
are made as a specialty" (Work, May 21, 1892). 

It is easy to make any aiticle of papier-mache if the 
meie beginning of a foim has once been shaped ; be- 
cause, after that is set, all that we have to do is to 
gradually paste one piece of paper on, here and there, 
till it is finished. This beginning is very easy if we 
have an object on which to begin. 
Thus take a vase or cup. Oil this, 
and then lay on and all around it 
soft, damp paper. Newspaper will 
do — a soft, white printing paper. J/\ ^^ 

Then, with a bioad biush, lay on 
paste, and apply a second coat of 
paper. Press it meanwhile as hard as you can. Con- 
tinue this till the papier-mache is thick enough. When 
dry, take a penknife and cut a line through from 
top to bottom. Scale it off, and ieunite the edges 
with strong glue ; then paste over the line of junction 
a stiip of paper. Then you will have a cup. 

If it be rough, cut it smooth and use glass-paper. 
When finished it may be painted or covered with wet 
leather, which can be woiked into relief. Or it may 
be made to look like ivory by the process elsewhere 
described. Paper may in this process be combined 
with soft leather rags ; as, for instance, pieces of old 
gloves out of which the thread has been taken, old 
chamois, bookbinders' clippings, or the like. This 
foims effectively leather. 

Carton-pierre, or stone-paper, is a veiy useful 
composition, which is very fully desciibed by George 
Parland in Work, July 2, 1893. It consists of paper 
sciaps, in the proportion of an ordinary washing 



i28 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

boiler or copper one-half full of boiling water and 
about one-half paper waste. Add two pounds of best 
flour-paste ; 'also, in a separate vessel, a quart of 
water, into which sprinkle a handful of fine plaster of 
Paris. Let it stand ten minutes before mixing it. 
" When the paper in the copper has become a fine 
pulp add the flour-paste, keeping the whole well 
stirred. Fifteen minutes after add the plaster, and a 
few minutes later rake out the fire from under the 
boiler. Have ready three pails of fine ground whit- 
ing ; pour in one pail of whiting and stir up well, 
adding moie whiting till the stick used to stir will 
stand of itself in the mixture. Let it cool, and it will 
be ready for use. 

11 Some firms/' writes Mr. Parland, " add pow- 
dered alum in the boiling process, others add one pint 
of boiled linseed-oil ; but if made according to the 
previous directions, an excellent carton-pierre will re- 
sult, which gives very fine impressions from moulds. 
If it be cast in a plaster mould, the latter should have 
two or three coats of shellac varnish, and then be well 
oiled. ... In using the carton, sprinkle some fine 
plaster of Paris on a bench, and taking a lump of the 
newly made carton, mix it well with dry plaster, add- 
ing more plaster, as bakeis would add flour to their 
dough. Having worked it well in this way until it 
will not stick to the fingers, with clean hands roll 
pieces very smooth in the palms, or on a smooth level 
board, and press each 1 oil into the cavities and hol- 
lows of the mould, often wetting the edges of the carton 
in the mould befoie adding a fresh piece to it. The 
casts must not be more than from an eighth to a quar- 
ter of an inch in thickness, except at the outside edges 



PAPIER-MACHE 129 

of the mould. . . . The casts must stand about 
twenty-four hours, and then be baked in not more 
than ioo° heat." 

The reader who is specially interested in papier- 
mdche 'will find a series of articles on the subject in 
Work, Nos. 3, 6, 12, 17, 22, 25. 

Pipeclay, to which calcined magnesia, whiting, or 
baryta may be added or omitted according to the 
body required, may be combined with papier-mache 
and gluten, such as gum-arabic or dextrine or flour- 
paste, which will form under pressure, or even by 
hand-rolling, a very hard and finely grained sub- 
stance, which is specially adapted to painting pictures. 
Plates or tavole are sold very cheaply in Florence of 
papier-mache, which are as hard, heavy, and glossy as 
ebony. It is not generally realised that an expensive 
hydraulic-press or steam-engine is not needed by the 
amateur to harden papier-mache. A common bread- 
roller, passed many times over the material, will 
work it " down and in," quite as well as direct press- 
ure, and very often much better. 

Papier-mache mixed and macerated with indiarubber 
or gutta-percha and benzole {vide Indiarubber) forms 
in many cases a very good substitute for leather. It 
can also be combined with flexible varnish to make 
leather. Very valuable soles can be made, or broken 
ones lepaiied, by taking card or pasteboard and soak- 
ing it in a hot solution of indiarubber. These water- 
proofed soles, whether of cardboard or leather, are 
easily prepaied, as easily applied and renewed, and 
they will keep the true sole from wearing out forever, 
if renewed. 

Singular as it seems, theie are not many persons 



130 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

who are familiar with the properties or texture of so 
familiar a substance as paper. We know that if 
wetted it grows soft, but still remains, as it were, 
knotty, and that when chewed it does not properly 
dissolve. Yet if the reader will take a piece of thor- 
oughly wetted paper, and knead or macerate it with 
a knife for some time with gum in solution, he will 
find it gradually becomes a soft paste, as flexible and 
as capable of moulding as putty or clay. This is not 
the same as papier-mache, which consists of paper 
merely wet or mixed and boiled with paste, and con- 
tains fibre and knottiness. The finely macerated 
paper, combined with an adhesive, is ductile, impres- 
sionable, sets well, and readily receives pressuie on 
rolling, under which it becomes extremely hard. 
Paper thus completely softened is readily made into 
sheets, and may be easily applied not only to fill up 
worm-holes in leaves and completely torn-away cor- 
ners, &c, but is very useful for cracks and cavities in 
wood and other substances. It may be made up with 
any gums, such as gum-arabic, dextrine, fish-glue, 
and also with caseine, gutta-percha, varnish, and 
most of the substances used in cements. Paper when 
thus softened and mixed with, e.g., fine glue and gly- 
cerine, or with flour -paste, can be moulded and ap- 
plied in ornamental forms to any surface. 

There is this great difference between simply wet 
paper, however wet it may be, and that which is com- 
pletely softened by maceration. The former is always 
lumpy, the latter passes under the blade of a knife like 
soft clay or putty. When made up with gum, glue, 
and glycerine, or strong paste, it is, when dry, like 
light wood, but less brittle. Kneaded with Indiarub- 



PAPIER-MACHE 131 

ber solution and glue, it becomes like leather, and 
can be used in several varieties of repairs. Rolled 
into sheets, this composition makes very good and 
cheap artificial leather for hangings. To manufac- 
ture these, spread the composition with a broad brush 
or dabber on a slate or marble table, and when rather 
dry pass over it a wooden roller. Some practice is 
needed not to roll it when too soft. If intaglio pat- 
terns are cut in the roller, the sheets will give them in 
relief. It is worth noting here that a great many 
pieces of old hangings sold as leather are really only 
made of papier-mache, or carton-cuir, and glue. These 
hangings, whether of leather or counterfeited, can be 
often bought in a damaged condition very cheaply, 
and can be easily restored with this composition, to 
great profit. When mixed with white lead, or oil 
paint and glue, soft paper becomes harder and firmer, 
and under pressure is as hard and heavy as any wood. 
White paper with holly wood or white larch or lime- 
tree wood in powder, and white gelatine — better if 
bone or ivory dust be added, with a little Naples yel- 
low (oil) — forms a beautiful cement. 

It will be seen by what I have written that cavities, 
holes, cracks, and defects in most substances, includ- 
ing wood and leather, can be perfectly remedied with 
paper in combination with glue, gum, or other sub- 
stances ; and as it is always to be obtained, a knowl- 
edge of its nature and applications cannot fail to be 
of value to all menders and restorers. 

Papier-mache, like all substantial or putty-like 
cements, involves moulding or casting. This subject 
is exhaustively treated in the Vollstdndige Anleitung 
zum For men und Giessen, by Eduard Uhlenhuth ; 



132 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Vienna, A. Hartleben, price 3s. On the subject of 
paper consult the Handbuch der praktischen Papier- 
Fabrikation, by Dr. Stanislaus Mierzinski, three vol- 
umes, which is not only the latest, but by far the most 
comprehensive, work on the subject with which I am 
acquainted. And here I may observe in this connec- 
tion that if my references have been chiefly to German 
works, it is because, in the minor technical applica- 
tions of chemistry to the aits, and in preparing intel- 
ligible practical treatises on such subjects, the Ger- 
mans have been, especially of late, by far the first 
nation in Europe. 

I may mention that since writing the foregoing pas- 
sages I purchased, for a mere trifle, in Florence two 
carved heads of the fourteenth century in walnut 
wood. They had suffered very much from time and 
wanton abuse, their noses having been hacked off. I 
made a mixture of soft paper-paste and gum-arabic, 
working the two thoroughly in together with a knife- 
blade till the composition was as soft as butter. This 
thorough maceration is essential to produce a durable 
body. With this I filled up the holes, made new 
noses, and painted the whole with Vandyke brown, 
or brown-black. In a few minutes the restoration 
was complete, and the heads which had cost one franc 
each are now worth at least thirty francs. I should 
say that the portions restored aie as hard as the orig- 
inal wood. 

It is not always an easy matter to reduce paper to 
a peifectly soft paste, such as is called in French 
papier-pourri. A small quantity can be mashed with 
a knife-blade and flour-paste or gum. A large quan- 
tity is prepared as follows : — 



PAPIER-MACHE 133 

Take clippings of paper and leave them a long time 
in water, which must be occasionally changed. When 
quite dissolved or soft, bray the paper in a mortar, 
and finally boil in very hot water. To give it con- 
sistency, add flour-paste or gum. This makes a very 
fine cement, which will receive the most delicate 
impression. It is invaluable for all kinds of dry 
mending. 

As I have shown, it can be applied to make or mend 
defective leaves of books, to fill up worm-holes in 
leaves, to repair drawings and pictures on wood or 
canvas, and when mixed with any gum which sets 
hard, to restore, add to, fill, or imitate woodwork. 
Under pressure and combined with different powders 
it becomes as haid as ebony and fiie-proof. Its ex- 
traordinary value and general utility are as yet very 
far from being much known. 



MENDING STONE-WORK 

MOSAICS-CERESA-WORK— PORCELAIN OR CROCK- 
ERY MOSAIC 

Mending or repairing stone, involving its imitations, 
is a widely extended btanch of technical science, and 
one which has of late years called forth much inven- 
tion. The most widely spread and ancient means of 
uniting and repairing this material is mortar, or the 
mixture of burned and then slacked lime with water. 
Lime is made most commonly from limestone or mar- 
ble. It improves in quality when carbonate of lime 
in organic formation, such as sea-shells, is used ; and 
there are degrees of excellence in these, from common 
oyster-shells to others of a finer kind, such as those 
with which the brilliantly white and hard chunam of 
India is made. In certain places mortar, when well 
made, becomes with age as hard as flint. In Ameri- 
can towns, where anthracite coal is burned, it rots 
away in chimneys under the influence of sulphurous 
acid with great rapidity. In the Pacific Islands, 
where lime is made from delicate small sea-shells or 
coral, and mortar is like a paint or enamel, a mission- 
ary has recorded that, when he taught the natives 
how to make it, they whitewashed everything, even 
to the children, who thus became white people. 



MENDING STONE-WORK 135 

The misapplied word mastic, which suggests a gum, 
refers to certain modifications of mortar into which 
oil enters ; also the oxides of lead or zinc. " Oil 
forms with these an insoluble soap, which includes or 
binds the other materials, forming, after one month's 
drying, a very hard substance," which some say is as 
hard as stone, but which depends entirely on the 
quality and combination ; for I have seen so-called 
mastic applied to coating cheaply built houses, which 
cracked or crumbled away like mere plaster of 
Paris. 

To thoroughly amalgamate mastics, it is usual to 
put their ingredients into casks which are two-thirds 
filled, and then revolved by machinery. The oil is 
then added. At least two days are required for the 
process. The following recipes for mastics are among 
the best, having been approved by Lehner. It may 
here be remarked, once for all, not only as regards 
mastics, but all recipes in this work, that unless the 
materials indicated are of the very best quality, and 
the processes be most thoroughly carried out, the ex- 
perimenter cannot expect complete success. More 
than this, the experimenter must not be satisfied with 
a single trial. If every recipe could be at once exe- 
cuted by every cook, we should find the most exquis- 
ite cookery on every table in Europe. I once pub- 
lished the correct recipe for making objects of a pecul- 
iar kind of papier-mache hardened. It was very easy 
to make. I had seen specimens of the ware, and I re- 
ceived the recipe from the inventor. Moreover, a 
great deal of money had been made by it. However, 
soon after I had published it I received an indignant 
letter from the head of a large manufacturing house, 



136 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



stating that they had tried my recipe and utterly 
failed ! 

French Mastic : — 



Quartz or flint sand, parts 


. 300 


Powdered quicklime, ,, 


100 


Litharge, 


>) 


• 5o 


Linseed-oil, 


)> 


• 35 


et's Mastic : — 






Flint sand 


. # 


• 3i5 


Washed chalk 


. 


. 105 


White lead 


. 


• 25 


Minium 


. 


10 


Sugai of lead in 


solution 


- 45 


Linseed-oil 




• 35 



The paste or " dough" thus formed should be 
ground with horizontal rollers in a mill, such as is 
used for chocolate, until all the ingredients are very 
thoroughly amalgamated. 

A very good cement for mending, especially where 
the objects are exposed to water, whether they be of 
stone or earthenware, is made as follows : — 



Powdered glass 
Washed litharge 
Linseed-oil varnish 



40 
40 
20 



The powdered glass is prepared by heating glass 
red-hot, casting it into water, grinding and sifting it. 
This powder is saturated with the linseed-oil varnish, 
and heated in a kettle. This cement sets hard in 
three days. Lehner observes that glass-powder 
serves in such recipes to resist the action of acids, &c, 



MENDING STONE-WORK 137 

since it forms in combination on the surface a glaze 
of great hardness ; that is, the glass and lead form a 
chemical combination. Pulverised calcined glass 
therefore acts not as an " indifferent* * but as a chemi- 
cal ingredient. . 

Caseine, or Cheese, forms the basis of several 
recipes for mending stone, as when there are holes in 
a block or the mortar has given way. To prepare it 
for use (Le'hner), we let milk stand in a cool place, 
skimming away with the utmost care all the cream. 
Place this on a filter, and pour on it rain-w r ater till it 
is purified from every trace of lactic acid ; then tie it 
in a cloth, boil it in water, and spread it on blotting- 
paper in a warm place, when it will be a horn- like 
substance. This will keep for a long time. To pre- 
pare it for use, rub it in a saucer with water. 

To mend stone make the following :— 

Caseine . . . . . 12 

Slacked lime ..... 50 
Fine sand ..... 50 

Another recipe : — 

Boil new cheese in water till it draws out in threads, 
stirring in slacked lime and sifted wood-ashes in the 
following proportions : — 

Cheese ...... 100 

Water . . . . . . 200 

Slacked lime ..... 25 

Wood-ashes ..... 20 

This may also be used to close cavities in trees or 
in wood. 

A cheese cement for stone, and for many other 



138 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

purposes, is made as follows. It may be kept for a 
long time, and is very durable (Lehner) : — 

Caseine ...... 200 

Calcined lime .... 40 

Camphor . . . . 1 

This must be closely incorporated and kept well 
corked. When it is to be used mix it with water, and 
apply at once. 

The following cement was used by the Romans 
especially in setting mosaics. It becomes as hard as 
marble, and sets with great rapidity : — To one quart 
of milk add the white of five eggs, and stir in pow- 
dered quicklime till a paste is formed. This compo- 
sition may be used to repair or make scagliola, which 
is fragments of marble or stone embedded in a hard 
mass. When it sets, polish the surface with rasps, 
and rub down with a rough stone, and finally polish 
with marble dust, and then emery or tripoli. Beauti- 
ful slabs for tables, columns, floors, and walls can 
thus be made. It is valuable for repairing. 

Ceresa is allied to this. We make a basis of this 
or any other cement which will hold firmly, and press 
into the surface powdered glass, which may be fine 
or of any degree of coarseness. Coarse grains shine 
most brilliantly ; fine powder is best adapted to deli- 
cate shading. The effect is best when mosaic stones 
and gold cubes are sparingly introduced. To make 
the gold cubes, take two small panes of window glass, 
cover one side of each with varnish or mastic cement, 
lay between them gold-leaf, and join them. Very 
beautiful pictures can be made in this manner. Nor 
is it at all necessary that they should be finely exe- 



MENDING STONE WORK 



139 



cuted lor ordinary decoration. All that is needed for 
this beautiful and little-known art is the cement, a 
quantity of glass or stone of different colours, and a 
mortar and pestle. The mosaic cubes, with those of 
gold, can be bought in London. 

Allied to this is an art which I believe I can claim 
to have invented. It consists of breaking waste china- 
ware, crockery, or fictile ware into small squares or 
triangles, and setting them as mosaic in cement. The 
advantage of it is the cheapness of the material, and 
the infinite number of shades of colour which can be 
selected for it. Its disadvantage is, that it will not 
wear as a pavement, but it is perfectly adapted to 
walls. 

A STRONG, COARSE CEMENT FOR BRICK OR STONE WORK 

in building is made as follows : — 



Slacked lime . 


. 40 


Brick-dust 


10 


Iron filings . 


10 


Ox-blood 


. 8 


Water 


. 8 



The blood is stirred as it comes from the slaugh- 
tered beast with a broom for ten minutes to break the 
fibre. It should then be mixed with the water and 
kneaded with the powder. Glue may be substituted 
for the blood. This cement, if properly made, sets 
very hard and adhesively. 

For tiles, bricks, or composition : — 



Slacked lime . 
Sifted stone-coal ashes 
Stirred ox- blood 



100 

5° 
i5 



i4o- A MANUAL OF MENDING 

It may be observed that many of the cheaper 
cements can be employed to form large bricks by com- 
bination with broken stone or rubble, gravel, pebbles, 
brickbats, &c. Another method, called Concrete, is 
to make cases of boards, and to form a solid wall by 
pouring in the mixture, or ramming it down, accord- 
ing to its hardness. Thus a house is made entirely 
in one piece ; but its excellence depends entirely on 
the quality of the cement employed, and on the care 
taken in building. Simple lime mortar, if not of a 
superior quality, hastily formed, as I have seen, is 
very apt to crack and break off. Where hydraulic 
cement is cheap and good, houses can be built as firm 
as granite. A good and strong cement of this kind 
can be made as follows : — 

Burned lime ..... 10 

Caseine . . . . . .12 

Hydraulic cement . . . .30 

The proportions may be very much varied in such 
cements according to their price, but generally with 
a satisfactory result. 

Fractures or discolorations in marble, as in statuary, 
are so perfectly repaired in Florence that the juncture 
is not perceptible. Even dark spots are drilled out. 
The process is to drill a round concave hole, and cut 
the piece to be inserted so as to exactly fit as a convex 
plug. It is then fastened in with transparent mastic 
or other clear cement. It will be seen, on due con- 
sideration, that this is extremely ingenious, because 
by it alone can a perfectly tight fit be secured. By 
turning the plug in the hollow it speedily grinds itself 



MENDING STONE-WORK 141 

into an accurate plug ; so when the cement is applied 
it can be reduced to a minimum — in fact, by this 
means the line of junction is reduced to its finest 
limit. 

Where a veiy strong cement is needed for stone- 
work, it can be prepared by mixing a fine cement 
powder — e.g., Portland cement — with liquid silicate 
of soda. As it dries almost at once, it must be 
promptly applied. It is particularly well adapted for 
building under water, since it then becomes extremely 
hard. Before applying it smear the stone with pure 
silicate. 

The following is highly commended by Lehner : — 

Mending statues of gypsum or plaster of Paris is 
allied to stone-work. The broken edges are washed 
with water till no more is absorbed and the surface 
remains wet. Then stir fresh calcined white plaster 
of Paris with much water to a thin paste, and con- 
tinue to stir this till it is cold. Then rapidly paint 
this paste on the broken edges, continuing to press 
the two together till they set hard. 

It is, says Lehner, a peculiarity of gypsum that 
when mixed with alum dissolved in water it takes a 
much longer time to harden, but is very much harder 
in the end. Thus, if we let the powdered gypsum lie 
for twenty-four hours in alum-water, dry it, and then 
calcine it again, the powder when mixed with water 
sets to a stone as hard as marble. 

Plaster of Paris and alum, combined with the fine 
powder of calcined glass, form a very hard and dura- 
ble cement, of very general utility in all mending of 
stone-work. 

For an exhaustive work on the subject of not only 



142 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

mending stone-work, but also of making artificial 
stone and many cements, as well as combining and 
adapting to use paper, cellulose, sawdust and shav- 
ings, gypsum, chalk, glue, &c, including not only 
ancient but also the most recent recipes, consult Die 
Fabrikation kunstlicher plastischer Afassen, by Johannes 
Hofer ; Leipzig, A. Hartleben, price 4s. 



REPAIRING IVORY 

Works of art in carved ivory or bone are very valu- 
able when perfect, yet when broken or defective they 
may very often be purchased for a trifle. Yet the 
process of mending them or restoring the missing 
portions is not difficult. 

The first thing to consider is the colour. When old 
ivory has only acquired a delicate hue, as of Naples 
yellow, this adds to its attractiveness ; nor are the 
brownish shadows and marks which gather in the 
angles of the reliefs repulsive. These may be left 
untouched, and even imitated. But a great deal of 
old ivory becomes of blackish bistre, or of a dirty, 
spotted brown or neutral tint, which has nothing in 
common with artistic effect, and suggests, like old 
slums in cities, more that is repulsive than pictu- 
resque. To clean such pieces, dissolve rock-alum in 
rain-water till it is white or forms a full saturation. 
Boil this, and keep the ivory in the boiling solution 
for about an hour, taking it out from time to time 
and cleaning it with a soft brush. Then let t dry in 
a damp linen or muslin rag ; it will then be cleaned. 

Ivory is often bleached by the simple process of 
damping, or wiping it with water and then exposing 
it to the rays of the sun ; which must, however, be 



i 4 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

frequently repeated. According to Lehner, the only 
perfect and certain process by which any ivory can be 
cleaned is to steep the article for some time in ether 
or benzole, in order to extract any fatty matter, then 
to wash it in water, and finally keep it in super-oxide 
of hydrogen ( Wasserstoff, super-oxide) till it is bleached, 
after which wash again in water. 

To supply Missing Portions. — Take ivory-dust, 
such as can be bought of every ivory-turner, sift it to 
an impalpable powder, or else levigate or grind it 
down under water as fine as flour in a mortar. Then 
combine this with gum arabic, in alum solution, or 
the silicate of potash. Egg-shells, levigated, may be 
substituted for the ivory-dust, and are even less likely 
to turn grey ; and very fine white glue or gelatine of 
the clearest kind may be substituted for the gum- 
arabic. 

Louis Edgar Andes, in his able work on Ivory, Horn, 
Mother-of-Pearl, and Tortoise-shell, explains a proc- 
ess much like that already described. According to 
him, take finely powdered bone (or ivory-dust), com- 
bine it with white of eggs, and the result will be an 
intensely hard substance, which can be turned or 
carved like ivory. To perfect this the mass should 
be subjected to a heat of from 50 to 6o° centigrade, 
and then to strong pressure. Gelatine or best glue, 
with glycerine, is quite as good as the white of eggs, 
and it may to advantage be combined with the latter. 
Having very thoroughly mixed the composition, take 
the broken ivory article, repair the missing portions, 
and fill the cavities with the paste. Though not 
equal to celluloid as an imitation of new and fiesh 
ivory, this cement is veiy much like old bone and 






REPAIRING IVORY 145 

ivory, and after a little experimenting the artistic ama- 
teur may succeed in so blending the binder or adhesive 
with the dust as to take casts which are almost per- 
fect imitations of the originals. But let it be observed 
in this, as in everything, one must not expect perfect 
success at a first trial, as too many do. 

When the paste is dry, smooth the surface with a 
sharp cutter, so as to remove any small projections, 
and then polish it, first with fine emery or tripoli, 
then with a burnisher, finally by hand. 

If you have, for example, an old flat plate of ivory, 
like one of the fourteenth century now before me, 
which I bought for a mere trifle because it was broken, 
lay it in an exactly fitting box — a strip of tin in a 
square will answer — and fill in the vacancy. The 
missing ornament on the upper side can be carved, 
or even supplied from a hardened stamp or mould 
of rolled soft bread-crumb. This bread-crumb can 
be made very hard by admixture with a very little 
nitric acid and water. Imitation meerschaum pipes, 
which are rather like ivory or bone, are made from 
this composition by pressure. 

I may here mention that this ivory or bone cement, 
which is little known, is admirably adapted to repair 
broken inlaying. There was in Florence, in the six- 
teenth century, an extensive manufacture of delicate 
bas-reliefs for small caskets from lime and rice, which 
greatly resembled bone or ivory. It was extremely 
durable, probably from being extremely well worked. 
Specimens of it bring a high price. 

A very slight infusion of Naples yellow, to which a 
suspicion of brown, reduced in Chinese white, has 
been added, gives to the paste an old-ivory colour. 



i 4 6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

The corners and outlines may be shaded in Vandyke 
brown. 

Before attempting to glue or mastic fractured 
ivories, they should always be washed in the alum 
solution, else they will often refuse to adhere. 

When there is a little addition of whiting and a 
little oil, very well worked into the ivory paste, and 
it is allowed to dry thoroughly, it may be cut or 
carved into any shape. 

Ivory or bone when very old becomes biittle or 
crumbling and falls to powder, because certain or- 
ganic substances dry out of it, leaving chiefly lime as 
their residue. When the ivories from Nineveh were 
brought to the British Museum the celebrated Sir 
Joseph Hooker suggested that they should be steeped 
in gelatine. This effected a perfect restoration. 
When a case occurs in which an ivory article, a bone, 
or skull is so fragile that it will not bear the slightest 
touch without falling to dust, it may often be saved 
by gently spraying on it water in which gelatine or 
glue has been dissolved. As the glue may be made 
by boiling old gloves, and as a spray can be easily 
improvised, it will be seen that excavators and open- 
ers of ancient tombs might by this means save thou- 
sands of curious relics which are allowed to perish. 
As it is certainly a species of mending or of restora- 
tion, it is in place in this work. This is especially to 
be desired as to skulls of the earliest ages, which are 
of inestimable value, of which we have so very few, 
and of which thousands have perished which might 
have been preserved in the manner which I have indi- 
cated. 

Sjy-ays for spreading perfume or medicated liquids, 



, REPAIRING IVORY 147 

which can be adapted to thin liquid glue, may be had 
of all chemists. But we can effect the purpose better 
by taking a tooth-brush, or any brush of the kind, 
wetting, and then drawing it over a dull edge of a 
knife or a strip of tin. According to J. C. Wiegleb, 
a Frenchman in his time received a very laige pen- 
sion for this invention, which was applied to spraying 
pastels. The Romans made a spray, very imperfectly, 
by suddenly squeezing or throwing liquids from a 
sponge. 

Ivory handles to knives and forks, when loose, can 
be best reset by first pouring in a little strong vinegar. 
When dry use acidulated glue. A common recipe for 
this purpose is the following : — 

Resin (colophonium) . . .20 parts 

Sulphur . . . . . 5 ,, 

Iron filings . . . . 8 ,, 

Heat, and use while soft. 

In repairing ivory it is often necessary to stain it of 
different colours. Most of the old works on recipes 
contain directions for this. In that of Ris Paquot 
they are given as follows : — 

First prepare a mixture of copper filings, rock-alum, 
and Roman vitriol. Boil it, let it be for six days, 
then add a little rock-alum. The piece of ivory to be 
dyed is kept in this solution for half an-hour. To dye 
Red.— Boil logwood chips or cochineal in water ; 
when hot add lead dross (cendre gravelee) about 25 
grammes, keep it in the fire till the colour has taken, 
then add rock-alum. This is strained through linen, 
and the ivory to be dyed is put into this liquor. 
Green. — Take one quart of lye made from vine-ashes 



i 4 8 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

{cendre de sarmenf)^ grammes of powdered verdigris, 
a handful of common salt, with a little alum. Boil it 
to one-half ; as soon as it is taken from the fire place 
the ivory in it, and leave it till properly coloured. 
Blue. — Dissolve indigo and potash in water, and then 
mix this with a quart of vine-ash lye. Black. — Boil 
the ivory in the following composition : — Vinegar, 
509 grammes ; gall-nuts pulverised, 12 grammes ; 
nut-shells, 12 grammes. Boil down to one-half. 
These are all very strong dyes, which may be used 
for other substances. 

" Ivory can be softened and made almost plastic 
by soaking in phosphoric acid. When washed 
with water, pressed, and dried, it will regain its 
former consistency." Ivory-dust thus treated can 
be really rendered plastic. The process requires 
care. 

In the Magia Naturalis of Hildebrand, a work of 
the sixteenth century, we are told that ivoiy can be 
imitated or repaired with a cement made of powdered 
egg-shells, gum-arabic in solution, and the white of 
eggs. Dry it in the sun. 

Allied to ivory is Horn. Deer-horn was frequently 
used as a material whence to make a substance which 
was moulded into many forms. For this purpose the 
hardest part of the horns was selected and filed or 
powdered, and then boiled in strong potash lye. 
Thus it became a paste, which was promptly pressed 
into moulds. When dry the figures were carefully 
polished. Ox-horn can be treated in the same man- 
ner. When cracked, carved horns or powder-flasks 
can be mended with this paste ; also with mastic and 






REPAIRING IVORY 149 

whiting. Horn in a soft state is easily coloured by 
mixing with it any dye. 1 

It has been recently complained in a leading review, 
in an article on sales of ancient works of art, that imi- 
tations of antique works of ivory are now carried to 
such perfection that even the learned in such matters 
have been deceived. This is perfectly true, and there- 
fore it is the greater pity that such imitation, which 
is not necessarily very expensive, cannot be extended 
to our great museums, the wealthiest of which thus 
far seldom get beyond rough, plain plaster-casts to 
make duplicates of ivory-work. The artists in imita- 
tion seem to be entirely in the employ of the people 
who deliberately sell counterfeits for genuine relics 
of antiquity. But, as Martin Luther or some one 
once remarked in reference to adapting hymns to 
popular airs, " There was no reason why the devil 
should keep all the good tunes to himself," so is 
there none why duplicates of thousands of exquisite 
works in ivory, bone, and horn should not be better 
known to the world. It is possible that, to the world 
at large, there is little real interest in such works ; 
but interest will come in time with familiarity. 

Apropos to ivory, or horn, there is a process of ap- 
plying an imitation of them to any kind of surface, 
which is, when executed with skill, remarkably effec- 
tive. It is chiefly executed in Vienna, where it is 
applied to leather, plaster of Paris, wood, and wall- 
paper. With variations, it is essentially as follows : — 

1 For fullest details as to the treatment of horn, the reader 
may consult Die Verarbeitung des Homes, &c., by Louis E. 
Andes, in which he will also find full details as to dyeing ivory. 



ISO A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Cover the ground with flexible varnish, then paint 
over this with light Naples yellow, graduated as 
nicely to some old ivory model as possible. It is best 
not to have it all too uniformly of one tone, since old 
work often has its shades. The object here need not 
be to ape or copy old work, but to catch what is 
beautiful in it. Then fill in the outlines of the pat- 
tern, and the dots and irregularities near it, or any- 
where, with brown more or less dark. For this, study 
old ivory. Then varnish with Soehnee, No. 3. A 
great deal depends on the quality of this second coat. 
Finally rub down very thoroughly with chamois and 
hand, and repeat the process more than once if you 
want it very much like ivory. Very extraordinary 
and perfect imitations of ivory, bone, worn and glossy 
parchment and brown leather, wood, marble — in 
short, of any kind of work of art which has been 
rubbed and worn smooth by hand during centuries, 
can be made by this process of ivorying with alternate 
layers of varnish, colour, varnish, and so on. 

When there is no relief the paint itself can be 
worked with wheel and tracer, and then repainted 
and varnished. This is a very beautiful art, specially 
applicable to book-covers, and often useful in repair- 
ing old work. I would here repeat what I said, that 
the object of imitating effects in old works of art, or 
in other kinds of art — which is so staunchly repudi- 
ated by mere artisans who themselves are generally 
only imitators of the designs of others — is not to make 
counterfeits, but to take from age or art beautiful 
effects, however produced, and apply them to work. 
Those who are too conscientious to execute stencilling 
on a wall, or to use moulds for leather-woik, would 



REPAIRING IVORY 151 

do well to fiist consider whether they know enough to 
design a really good or admirable stencil, or an ex- 
cellent mould, for it is in the genius which oiiginates 
and executes, not in the mere means, tools, and mate- 
rials employed, that art consists. Art does not de- 
pend in the least on either making skill difficult or in 
rendering its methods easy ; it displays skill, but 
scorns the Chinese standard of mere industiy. An 
aitist like Albert Durer would never have prided 
himself on only using certain tools as being " aitis- 
tic ;" he would, however, have made designs w T hich 
would have forced originality and art into a photo- 
graph. There are marvellous effects of corrugation 
in ancient walls, plays of light and shade and colour 
and polish in rock and strand and heaps of ashes, 
which Leonardo da Vinci knew how to catch and 
transfer to different subjects, and at which perhaps 
the artisans of his time sneered as " not artistic." 

Age, which gives a certain exquisite charm to wine 
and words of wisdom, has done the same to all mate- 
rial things, of which, indeed, it may be strangely said 
that wherever it does not destroy a charm it confers 
one, like moonlight, which renders nightly shadows 
more terrible or else more beautiful. 

It is to be regretted that this principle, which is a 
very important one, is but little understood. The 
manufacturers of all decorative art work at present 
endeavour without exception to make everything star- 
ingly, cruelly brand new, or else a mere copy of old 
work. What they need is to draw, as Rembrandt 
did, from age so much of its peculiar charm as is 
adaptable to modern work. 

I have introduced these remarks because the mender 



i 5 2 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

and restorer of old ivories and bookbindings and pic- 
tures, if he regards his occupation as an art — which 
it really is — is peculiarly adapted to fully appreciate 
them. Restoring, like copying, leads to creating new 
work. I think that any person of ordinary intelli- 
gence can, with zeal and application, learn to mend 
anything as described in this work, and from such 
mending it is much easier to learn to make works of 
minor art. " Short the step from senator to podestd — 
shorter the step from podestd to king." 

A great merit and peculiarity of ivory, as of horn, 
is that it is tough and elastic, as well as of a beauti- 
ful transparent or diaphanous quality. These char- 
acteristics have, with the exception of its graining or 
texture, been well imitated thus far only in celluloid, 
which is unfortunately too expensive for very general 
use, and, what is worse, too liable to destruction. I, 
however, confidently anticipate that ere long some 
substance will be discovered much superior to cellu- 
loid as a substitute, and probably much cheaper and 
less perishable. To celluloid I may, however, add the 
sulphuretted preparations of caoutchouc and gutta- 
percha, known as vulcanite or ebonite. These are in- 
deed hard, tough, and elastic to perfection, but very 
dark and opaque. 

Lehner, in his work Die Imitationen, observes that 
imitations of ivory must be varied to suit the colour 
and quality of originals. This requires a study, 
firstly, of the adhesive or glue which is to be used. 
This, when colourless, is known as French gelatine, 
and is very expensive. In lieu thereof the experi- 
menter may take best white Salisbury glue or gum- 
arabic prepared with alum-water. Secondly, the 






REPAIRING IVORY 153 

body, which may be of carbonate of magnesia, car- 
bonate of lime, such as powdered marble, sulphuretted 
lime, or powdered gypsum, chalk, starch, or flour, 
white oxide of tin, zinc, sulphate of barytes or Chi- 
nese white, white oxide of lead. In combining, e.g., 
magnesia with the glue, an addition of ten per cent, 
of glycerine gives elasticity and a horn-like clearness. 
To harden artificial ivory made with glue, the objects 
are dipped into strong solution of alum or tannin for 
about four minutes. The tannin is best made from 
gall-apples. Objects thus made have an antique 
ivory, yellowish hue. Red chrome alkali may be 
used in solution with water instead of tannin, but it 
gives a stronger yellow. 

According to Hyatt's patent, artificial ivory is 
made by combining a syrup made of eight parts shel- 
lac and three parts of ammoniac with forty of the 
oxide of zinc. This is heated and subjected to 
pressure. 

Celluloid is the best material for making artificial 
ivory. It is made by the combination of cellulose or 
vegetable fibre in the form of cotton-wool treated 
with acid ; that is to say, gun-cotton and camphor. 
It is sold in thin leaves, &c, which can be softened 
at from ioo° to 125 centigrade, so as to be moulded 
to any form. By infusion of colouring matter, such 
as oxide of zinc, cinnabar, &c, celluloid is made to 
resemble ivory, coral, or tortoise-shell. It has often 
been applied to making a perfect imitation of Floren- 
tine mosaic, and of course serves admirably to repair 
such work when broken. 

A very strong cement for ivory, bone, or fine wood 
is made by boiling transparent gelatine in water to a 



154 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

thick mass. Add to this gum-mastic dissolved in 
alcohol, this solution being one-fourth, and stir into 
it pure white oxide of zinc till it forms a fluid like 
honey. This is also of itself an artificial ivory, when 
prepared and dried rn the mass. Another can be 
made by combining diamond cement (vide Glass) with 
powdered ivory and a little glycerine. Also with the 
same, or very strong white glue and powdered egg- 
shells, which latter should have been boiled. Also 
white of egg, gum-arabic, a very little strong vinegar, 
and levigated egg-shells. 

Another recipe for such mending or making of 
ivory and similar substances is to take soft and very 
white paper in pulp, combined with cotton-wool, 
treated with very dilute acid or strong vinegar. To 
this add powdered egg-shells, made into paste with a 
little glycerine ; amalgamate this with the paper and 
cotton mixture as thoroughly as possible, and submit 
to strong pressure or rolling. 

Cellulose in any form, whether made from cot- 
ton, linen, wood, or other vegetable fibrous substance, 
affords a basis which can be treated with dilute acid 
to produce a horny or parchment-like substance. A 
modification of this is seen in making celluloid with 
camphor. These modified forms of organic creation 
can be combined with other organic substances or 
minerals in great variety. Thus glycerine, and at 
times oil of different kinds, in such admixtures con- 
fers elasticity, or a diaphanous appearance ; ivory- 
dust has an affinity for oil and glue ; and these all 
combine with parchment, boiled ivory-dust, and fibrine 
or cellulose. 

Certain marine plants, such as kelp, yield a fibrous 



REPAIRING IVORY 155 

substance which has very peculiar qualities, and which 
admits of ingenious combination. Certain experi- 
ments and observations convince me that there is here 
a vast field, as yet unexplored, in which science will 
yet make discoveries and afford-'valuable contributions 
to technology. 

The reader who is specially interested in this sub- 
ject may consult to advantage Die Verarbeitung des 
Homes, Elfenbeines, Schildpatts und der Perlenmutter, 
&c, von Louis Edgar Andes ; Vienna, A. Hartleben, 
price 3s, « 



REPAIRING AMBER 

HOW TO PERFECTLY RE-JOIN BROKEN AMBER, 
AND TO IMITATE IT— HOW TO MELT AMBER IN 
FRAGMENTS TO A SINGLE BODY 

Amber has been admired in all ages and everywhere 
from its exquisite colour and semi-transparency. 
Many superstitions were attached to it, and many still 
believe that to carry a bead made from it is good for 
the eyesight. It is principally found on the Prussian 
coast, off the German Ocean, but is also picked up in 
considerable quantities on the English shore. It is 
the gum or resin of a now extinct species of pine, 
which was probably much like that in New Zealand, 
which produces the gum kauri, which so much resem- 
bles amber. 

Some amber is yellow and clear like lemon-candy. 
This is extensively imitated for cigar-holders and pipe- 
mouthpieces, beads, &c. Then there is the clouded, 
varying from white to straw-colour, and the beautiful 
golden-brown, which appears so rich in sunlight ; 
also the dark-brown and black. These dark-brown 
ambers are generally seen in old ornaments, and are 
of a kind which is dug out of the earth. Light am- 
ber can be darkened to brown by an artificial process. 



REPAIRING AMBER 157 

Gum copal y which comes from Africa, much resem- 
bles amber, but is less beautiful and more brittle. 
Gum kauri, from New Zealand, is very much like it. 
Both are used to imitate amber. 

There are not many who know how to mend amber 
when broken. I am assured that the following is a 
trustworthy method : — Warm the pieces, dampen them 
with caustic potash (cetz-kali') y and then press them 
together. When well done the joining will not be 
perceptible. It is said that by this process small 
pieces of amber, amber-dust, &c, can be made into 
blocks. 

In imitating amber, the best pieces of copal are 
picked out, put into an air-tight vessel, and dissolved 
in petroleum, sulphuric ether, or benzole. After 
being dried in blocks this is submitted to a great 
pressure. As it dries the pressure is increased. 

It occurred to me many years ago that the proper 
way to unite copal to a tough body like amber would 
be to use a tough or flexible varnish as a binding 
medium. I find by the work of Lehner on Imita- 
tions that he has verified this by experiment. What 
is also important is, that the process of hardening by 
pressure is by this means very much facilitated. I 
should judge, by all chemical laws, that a varnish in- 
fused with glycerine in combination with copal, kauri, 
or amber-dust would, even without pressure, form in 
time a substance quite as hard as amber, and much 
less brittle. It is to be desired that some technist 
would experiment on a variety of gums in this man- 
ner, and thus fix or render permanent their beauty. 
There is a wide field here to be worked. The subject 
of meerschaum and amber is fully treated in a work 



158 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

entitled Die Meerschaum- und Bernstein- Fabrikationen, 
von G. M. Raufer ; Vienna, A. Hartleben, 2 marks. 

I may add that carving amber is a very elegant art, 
yielding beautiful results. I have known a young 
lady, the late Miss Catherine L. Bayard, who excelled 
in it. It is effected chiefly with fine files and emery 
or glass paper, as, owing to its extremely brittle na- 
ture, there is much risk for any save experts to use 
cutting tools. Amber is a very expensive material, 
but objects made from it are of more than proportion- 
ate value. Those who would practise carving it 
should begin with pieces of copal. As I have already 
explained, small fragments and the dust of both am- 
ber and copal can be melted and combined with clear 
turpentine into large masses, which are even tougher 
than the native gums. 

An inferior, but still very pretty, imitation of am- 
ber can be made by combining almost any gum prop- 
erly clarified and coloured ; as, for instance, gum- 
arabic or dextrine with gelatine (best quality white) 
and glycerine. If thoroughly well combined and 
dried, this will wear as well as amber. Some of the 
gums of fruit-trees — e.g., of the peach and cherry — 
are very beautifully coloured and clear, and seem to 
be admirably adapted to be hardened by the same 
process. They occur very frequently in old books of 
recipes as adhesives or cements. Perfectly clear glue 
or gelatine with glycerine and transparent dyes form 
an excellent imitation for beads. 



INDIARUBBER AND 
GUTTA-PERCHA 

MENDING INDIARUBBER SHOES AND MAKING GAR- 
MENTS WATERPROOF, WITH OTHER APPLICA- 
TIONS 

Indiarubber or gutta-percha enters into so many 
familiar and useful objects that there are few people 
who would not like to know how to repair them when 
injured. 

Like the brittle or non-elastic gums, caoutchouc 
(with which I include the nearly allied gutta-percha) 
is greatly modified by admixture with certain pulver- 
ised substances, which form with it a partly mechani- 
cal, partly chemical, combination. Those who would 
thoroughly study the subject in all its relations may 
consult Kautschuk {Caoutchouc) und Guttapercha, von 
Raimund Hoffer ; Wien, 1892, Hartleben. 

Caoutchouc is partially soluble in carburetted sul- 
phur, ether, pure petroleum, or benzole, but gutta- 
percha is perfectly so. In this state it may be applied 
as a varnish or coating for repairs, as it hardens by 
exposure to the air. When mixed with sulphur and 
exposed to a heat of no° to 115° centigrade, gutta- 
percha becomes what is called " vulcanised/' assum- 



160 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

ing a very light grey colour, is more elastic, and re- 
tains this elasticity at a much lower grade than be- 
fore. When the heat is raised to (maximum) 180 the 
mass becomes very hard, tough, and black, or like 
horn. The conditions of its toughness, elasticity, 
and hardness depend upon the amount of sulphur 
used ; as in other combinations, the harder the mate- 
rial becomes the less elastic it is — that is, the more 
brittle. 

Ebonite is extremely hardened caoutchouc. It is 
first treated with chlorine, washed with sulphate of 
soda infused in water, and finally mixed with harden- 
ing substances and submitted to severe pressure. 

As indiarubber or " gum" shoes are in general use, 
most people would consider them the proper objects 
to begin with. To do this, first make two separate 
preparations as follows : 

I. 

Caoutchouc 10 

Chloroform ..... 280 

II. 

Caoutchouc ..... 10 

Resin ...... 4 

Turpentine ..... 2 

Oil of turpentine .... 40 

No. I. is simply kept for a time in a bottle or tightly 
closed jar by itself. No. II. is made by cutting the 
gum very fine, mixing it with the resin, then adding 
the turpentine, and finally dissolving the whole in the 
oil of turpentine. Then combine I. and II. To re- 
pair the shoe, take a linen patch, steep it in the mix- 



INDIARUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA 161 

ture, and place it over the rent. When this is dry 
apply one or more coats. 

It may be observed that this preparation may be 
used not only for indiarubber shoes, but many other 
objects. Applied to the soles of leather boots, and 
then heated in, repeating the process a few times, 
they become perfectly waterproof. This is better 
when the shoemaker makes a coating of it between 
the two soles. I have tested this often. The inner 
sole may be made by simply dissolving the indiarub- 
ber in benzole or ether. A solution for ordinary re- 
pairing can be made by simply steeping the india- 
rubber in benzine. 

Rents or holes in ordinary leather shoes or other 
objects can be very well repaired in this way. A 
piece of leather can in this case be substituted for the 
linen rag. Boots or shoes which will be very much 
exposed to wet should be warmed and then soaked or 
permeated with a solution of indiarubber. Prepara- 
tions for the purpose can be bought of all dealers in 
gum and gutta-percha. 

Cloth is generally waterproofed by steeping it in a 
slight solution of caoutchouc. 

Another recipe (Lehner) is as follows : — 

Caoutchouc 150 

Tallow 10 

Slacked lime 10 

This is used to cork or close bottles. To render it 
more resistant, substitute pipeclay for the lime. Or 
if in place of either we use red oxide of lead, it will 
form in time an extremely hard and perfectly water- 
proof cement of great value. 



i6 2 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

A STRONG INDIARUBBER CEMENT : — 

Caoutchouc, about . . . .90 

Pulverised sulphur . . .10 

Or from 6 to 12 of the latter. 

This is specially commended as useful to close tins 
containing fruits, &c. It is simply vulcanised india- 
rubber. 

Marine glue is a very valuable and generally use- 
ful cement. It is so called because, being perfectly 
waterproof, it is used for many purposes in ships. It 
is applicable not only to repairing indiarubber or 
gutta-percha garments, but also to objects of metal, 
wood, glass, stone, paper, or cloth ; as, for instance, 
umbrellas, on which, when torn, a patch or strip of 
silk or muslin may be gummed, which will last as 
long as the rest. It is also good for waterproofing 
shoes. It is sold by dealers in ships' stores, chemists, 
and others. "It is a good thing to have in the 
country." 

Hard marine glue : — 

Caoutchouc ..... 10 
Rectified petroleum . . . 120 

Asphalt ...... 20 

To prepare this, the caoutchouc should be hung in 
a linen bag in a cask with a very large bung, or in a 
large jar, so that the bag shall be only half immersed. 
This is kept in a warm place for from ten to fourteen 
days, till the solution is effected. Then the asphaltum 
may be melted in an iron kettle. Let the rubber solu- 
tion slowly run into the kettle over a gentle heat, and 
stir in the one to the other till the mass is thoroughly 
preserved are put in the bag ; the edge is then turned 



INDIARUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA 163 

incorporated. When this is effected pour the mixture 
into moulds which have been oiled to prevent ad- 
hesion. The result is dark brown or black thin cakes, 
which are broken with difficulty. The excellence of 
this cement is somewhat counteracted by the diffi- 
culty or care which must be observed in using it, To 
do this, put the vessel in which it is to be melted in 
another or a balneum maritz, as for glue, filled with 
boiling water. When fluid take the kettle from the 
fire and subject it directly to heat till it attains a 
temperature of 150 centigrade. When it is possible, 
heat the object to be glued to ioo°. The thinner the 
coat and the hotter the surface the better will it ad- 
here, unless the objects be such as hard boards. In 
all cases as strong a pressure as possible should be 
employed to bring the two parts together, which 
should be continued till the glue has dried. Boxes 
which are cemented together by means of marine glue 
and are also nailed are of extraordinary strength, and 
may be thus made air-tight and waterproof. Those 
who intend to send articles which can be affected by 
sea-air, such as silks and tea, which change their col- 
our and quality even when packed in the tightest or- 
dinary cases, should employ boxes well secured with 
good marine glue. It is also invaluable to secure 
clothing against moths, for if anything be very thor- 
oughly dusted and there are no moths in it, none 
can get in if it be enclosed in a box rendered air- 
tight. 

Apropos of which I would say that in America moths, 
which are far more of a pest than in Europe, are 
effectively excluded by means of bags of strong 
paper, well tarpaulined or tarred. The objects to be 



164 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



over and warmed, so that it seals itself up. Strong 
paper bags are better than any trunks to exclude 
moths, but they must always be well gummed up. 
Tobacco is no protection at all against these insects. 
I have even had an old woollen Turkish tobacco-bag 
which had been in use ten years, and which was 
partly full of tobacco, almost devoured by moths, 
which must have eaten no small quantity of tobacco 
in so doing. Nor is camphor or any other scent half 
as effective as hermetic closing in some substance 
which insects will not eat. 

Lehner gives a suggestion regarding the rendering 
walls air-tight which is of such remarkable practical 
utility that it ought to be enforced by health laws in 
every house. Whenever walls have any tendency to 
absorb dampness — and all have it in damp weather, 
especially in underground rooms — it is far more dan- 
gerous than is generally supposed to put paper on 
them. This is so much the case that where workmen, 
from carelessness, paste one coat of paper over an- 
other on a damp wall, the mass in time gives out a 
very poisonous exhalation, so that an instance is 
recorded in which several people died, one after 
the other, in consequence of sleeping in such a 
room. To prevent this take the following waterproof 
cement : — 

Caoutchouc . . . . .10 
Washed chalk . . 10 

Oil of turpentine . . . .20 
Bisulphide of carbon . . .10 
Resin (colophonium) ... 5 
Asphalt 5 



INDIARUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA 165 

These are combined in a large flask, kept in a mod- 
erately warm place, and often shaken till well incor- 
porated. The wall to be covered should be brushed 
and wiped, and in some cases heated, until extremely- 
dry. Then, using the cement, apply the paper in the 
ordinary way. It will stick with great tenacity, this 
being a very tight and strong glue. All wall-paper 
whatever is more or less productive of malaria in 
damp weather, as is the smell of a damp library, or 
one where the scent of old paper is rankly and offen- 
sively perceptible. Therefore every precaution should 
be taken to render it innocuous. 

Even if no paper be applied, this cement is very 
valuable when simply used to coat the interior or ex- 
terior of damp walls. It can, of course, be used to 
repair many articles of indiarubber, and to mend 
shoes, tan garments, &c. Apropos of which latter I 
may here remark that all persons who intend to rough 
it in the bush as colonists, or go into any region 
where mending or getting mended is difficult — as I 
myself have many a time experienced — would do well 
to carry a tight tin box of waterproof glue, with 
which torn shoes, and very often torn clothes, can be 
promptly repaired. In fact, with the aid of a little 
rough stitching, or even without it, garments of 
leather, muslin, and even of cloth can be made to 
hold together with certain cements, which will liter- 
ally bind anything. 

It is well worth while for those who propose to live 
in the wilderness, wherever it may be, to know 
how to prepare or make indiarubber garments. The 
recipe is very easily made ; — 



166 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Gutta-percha ..... 10 

Benzine ...... ioo 

Linseed-oil varnish .... ioo 

The gutta-percha is dissolved in the benzine ; the 
solution, when clear, is poured into a bottle already 
containing the varnish, and all is then thoroughly- 
shaken. This mixture, when spread on woven fabrics 
of any kind, renders them completely waterproof. 
The garments can then be cut out and " sewed ;" 
that is, bound together with the same cement. Ac- 
cording to Lehner, this cement can be used for mak- 
ing the soles of shoes, and is marvellously elastic. 
All travellers, and assuredly all housekeepers, should 
have this cement among their possessions. 

It may also happen to a traveller to find himself 
with an aching hollow tooth in a region where no 
dentist is accessible. Should he have with him some 
gutta-percha (bleached is best for this purpose) he 
may combine it with very finely pulverised glass. 
(To levigate or powder anything as fine as flour, it 
must be pounded in a mortar, or on metal or hard 
stone under water.} Then warm and thoroughly mix 
the gutta-percha and glass. Make it into little pen- 
cils, which, when they are to be used, must be dipped 
in hot water. This cement may be also used for a 
great variety of other purposes. 

A very admirable cement, which should be found 
in every stable and known to every one who owns a 
horse, is made as follows : — 

Hartshorn and resin ammoniacum \ 
(Ammoniakharz) . . ) 

Purified gutta-percha . . . 20-25 



INDIARUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA 167 

Heat the gutta-percha to 9o°-ioo° centigrade, and 
thoioughly incorporate it with the powdered resin. 
The chief use of this admirable composition is to fill 
up cracks or splits in horses' hoofs. It may also be 
used for plaster on occasion. To apply it to hoofs, 
warm it and spread it in with a warmed knife. It 
sets so hard that it will hold nails. 

In mending or making, it may be observed that a very 
little indiarubber or gutta-percha may be combined 
with benzole or ether, or rectified petroleum in large 
amount, which soon becomes dense. Therefore, to pio- 
duce a surface or a skin, we first spread a thin coat 
over the object or mould, and then apply another with a 
broad, soft brush or * ' dabber' ' with great care, so as to 
make it of uniform thickness. It is, therefore, best to 
have the preparation always rather thin, and use it at the 
right time, and not when it has become dense by long 
keeping. In the latter case add more of the solvent. 

Glass bottles or vials containing liquids are often 
broken, even by the pressure of soft objects, such as 
clothing, when placed in trunks. It is therefore ad- 
visable to dip or coat them with this solution, which 
forms a bag which will contain the fluid ; that is, un- 
less it be of a nature which will soften it. I have known 
a bottle of hair-oil to be packed in a valuable cash- 
mere shawl, which was almost ruined by its breaking, 
and which could have easily been prevented by this 
easy precaution. 

Any apothecary will make up these recipes. 

A very curious and valuable imitation of indiarub- 
ber waterproof cloth is made as follows : — Caseine is 
macerated with water and with borax to a solution. 
The cloth is dipped in this, and when quite dry, again 



168 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

dipped into a strong infusion of gall-apples. This is 
a kind of tanning. 

For exhaustive information on the subject of india- 
rubber the technologist may consult Kautschuk und 
Guttapercha, by Raimund Hoffer, Leipzig, 1892, which 
is, I believe, the latest and best work on this impor- 
tant subject. 



MENDING METAL-WORK OR RE- 
PAIRING BY MEANS OF IT 

FIREPROOF CEMENTS, WITH IRON BINDERS 

Metal-work, especially in iron, requires so much 
forging and so many appliances that it is to a certain 
extent beyond the ordinary mender, who must in 
most cases have resort to the smith or artificer. But 
there is still much within the capacity of the amateur 
to effect, and this I will describe. 

One of the commonest requirements in repairing 
trunks and many other objects is to make a strap or 
strip of metal hold either to a surface or to itself. 
This is to be promptly effected by riveting. If the 
iron band on a trunk is broken, you cannot well nail 
it again into its place. A nail will not hold in the 
thin side, possibly of pasteboard. To learn how to 
repair in such a case, take a piece of common hoop 
iron, lay it on a block of wood or a board, and with 
a fine nail or brad-awl and hammer knock a hole in it. 
Then take a rivet or any flat-headed tack, put it 
through the hole, lay it with the head of the tack 
down on iron or stone if possible, and then give the 
point a blow, a little sideways. The result is that the 
point will be flattened and the tack firmly held. The 



170 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

result will be the same if the rivet passes through two 
thick pieces of metal. In this manner the two ends 
of an iron hoop for a box are fastened. Therefore, 
if we take a piece of tin or sheet-iron, put it in the 
trunk against the side, and bring down the broken 
strip on the outside, we can, with a little care, rivet 
it. It is advisable, when this is done, to paste a 
strong piece of muslin or leather over the tin to pre- 
vent it from cutting anything in the trunk. These 
riveted strips are far better for surrounding and hold- 
ing many bundles than cords. They are better for 
books, because they do not leave marks on the edges, 
neither do they untie nor are they hard to fasten, re- 
quiring no knotting. 

Riveted bands, corners, or bent pieces of sheet- 
metal are more generally applicable to broken furni- 
ture than is generally supposed. The plate thus ap- 
plied can generally be concealed either by chiselling 
a place for it or by hammering it into the wood, and 
then cementing and painting it over. 

Wire is also very useful for mending of many 
kinds, either in metal or wood. To manage it we 
need a pair of cutting pliers or pincers, as well as the 
long-nosed and flat pliers. Thus, to attach two 
bodies — for instance, the two parts of a broken gun- 
stock — begin by fastening one end of the wire in one 
piece, and wind it round both, drawing it as tightly 
as possible with the flat pliers. When united, fasten 
the other end by driving it under the twist or into the 
wood. This also can be so adroitly treated that the 
wire, flattened with a file and hammered down, can 
be concealed under paint and varnish. By means of 
wire passed through holes made with long brad-awls 



MENDING METAL-WORK 171 

or fine gimlets, picture-frames can be fhmly repaired. 
In many cases the wire should be brought round and 
the ends fastened or wound together ; in others, make 
a double ring in one end of the wire and nail it down, 
then pass the wire through the hole and fasten the 
other end in the same way. Many kinds of broken 
implements may be thus mended. Endeavour to get 
strong, flexible wire for such purposes. 

Boxes containing goods will be doubly strong when 
protected by strips of iron nailed round them. Hoop- 
iron is generally used for this purpose. 

Soldering is, however, the best and most usual 
means of repairing all kinds of metal-woik, and this 
is very far from being so difficult as is generally sup- 
posed ; indeed, a lady-writer on metal-work goes so 
far as to declare that it is fascinating. As every 
tinker and tinman knows how to " sodder, " and will 
willingly give instruction for a trifle (children, in- 
deed, often behold the whole process admiringly for 
nothing), and, finally, as it is most unlikely that any 
reader of this work should be in a place where neither 
tinkers nor tinmen are to be found — for I have read 
that a gipsy tinker was once discovered mending a 
kettle seated in the shadow of the Great Wall of 
China — it is hardly necessary to describe in detail 
processes which any one can take in at a glance. 
The principle is this : — As in cementing glass, the 
glue which binds requires powdered glass to be mixed 
in it, so that it may establish a quicker and closer 
affinity with the glass ; so to unite two metallic sur- 
faces we must have a flux or some fusible substance 
as an intermediary. For this purpose various sub- 
stances, such as resin and borax, are employed with 



172 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



the solder, which is a compound of metals, which 
melts very easily, takes a fiim hold of other metals, 
and sets hard at once. Theie are many varieties of 
it, adapted to different metals. It is generally sold 
in small sticks for use. 

I lay some stress on the fact that there should be 
some one in every family knowing how to repair, 
especially in metal, because theie is no household in 
which there is not damage of tin and iron w 7 are, 
trunks, kitchen utensils, and often even of jewellery, 
which a clever youth or young lady could easily re- 
store. A pin is detached from a brooch. You could 
repair it yourself in five minutes, at a halfpenny's 
expense ; but no, it must be sent to a jeweller's to be 
mended for a shilling. It is the same with earrings 
and chains and bracelets and clasps and securing- 
rings. When they become shaky you fasten them 
with thread. It will hold for the present, of course ; 
and then comes an advertisement in the Times : 
" Lost — Twenty-five Pounds Reward !" All because 
you never learned how to repair or solder. 

But, as 'tis never too late to 
mend, and no one should be a 
mend I-can't, or go begging to 
others to do for him what he can 
do for himself, I trust that reflec- 
tion on this subject will induce 
many to become practical repair- 
ers. If you have a valuable coin, 
do not take half the value out of 
it, as most people do, by boring 
a hole through it. Make a simple twist and eye- 
let of a bit of silver wire and solder it on the 




MENDING METAL-WORK 173 

edge. Do not tie a gold chain with twine ; mend it 
properly. Rivet your broken scissors, and when 
hinges come out screw them on again. If there were 
really anything difficult in all this I would honestly 
say so, but there is not, and people who have re- 
ceived some education learn how to do it all with ease 
in a short time. 

A recipe for a cement to attach metal to any other 
substance is made as follows :— 

Purified flint-sand (or glass-powder). 10 
Caseine or curd .... 8 

Slacked lime . . . . .10 

Mix thoroughly, and add water to a creamy con- 
sistency. 

The following for metals is also very strong : — 

Sturgeon's bladder solution . . 100 

Nitric aci'd ..... 1 

The acid is stirred in at the same time with the 
cement, which should be as dense as possible, and 
with this mixture the surfaces of the metal are cov- 
ered. '■ The nitric acid is intended to make the sur- 
faces of the metal rough, but it has the drawback 
that it hinders the drying of the glue" (Lehner). 
This slowly drying is, however, a great advantage. 
The same is found when it is mixed with common 
glue, which generally dries too rapidly. Cements 
which dry rather slowly take hold the most firmly 
and permanently. The acid hardens the mass by 
contracting the cellular tissue. To hasten the dry- 
ing, the metallic parts, which should be very strongly 
compiessed together, must be exposed to heat. 



i74 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

A simpler method for light articles of metal is to 
wet the surfaces with nitric acid for a few minutes 
till they are roughened, then wash away the acid in 
water, and cement the metal with sturgeon's bladder 
cement. 

A special cement for zinc is made by thickening 
very strong dense glue with powdered slacked lime, 
into which is kneaded one-tenth part of flowers of 
sulphur. 

A so-called Jeweller's Cement, which holds firmly, 
is the so-called Diamond, elsewhere given ; also the 
following : — 

Sturgeon's bladder . . . . ioo 
Gum mastic varnish ... 50 

The sturgeon's bladder is dissolved in as little 
water as possible with strong spirits of wine (equiva- 
lent to ordinal y spirits). To prepare the mastic var- 
nish, mix finely powdered mastic with the most 
highly rectified spirits of wine and benzine, and use 
as little liquid as possible. The two mixtures must 
be then rubbed as intimately as possible together. 
When carefully made this cement will serve for any- 
thing — glass or china, &c. 

A cement for zinc, especially for ornaments and 
small work : — In ten parts by weight of silicate of 
soda (solution) stir two parts of cleansed chalk and 
three of zinc in powder. This is kneaded for some 
time into a putty, with which defects, roughnesses, 
&c, can be remedied. After twenty-four hours, when 
polished with agate, this cement has all the appear- 
ance of zinc. 

It may be observed that other metals in fine powder 



MENDING METAL WORK 175 

may be substituted for the zinc, and that with bronze 
powders, oxides of metals, and indeed with all the 
range of painters' colours, combinations may be 
formed of infinite application in the arts. According 
to Lehner the silicate of soda should be of 33 . 

A specially strong and valuable cement, capable of 
many uses in metal, wood, glass, or china, or to fasten 
glass to metal, is made as follows : — Take best puri- 
fied litharge, stir it with glycerine until it becomes a 
thin homogeneous mass, which in less than an hour 
will become a very hard mass, which is of almost uni- 
versal application. It is not affected by water, and 
resists the action (according to Lehner) of almost all 
acids, the strongest alkalies, as well as etherised oils 
and the fumes of chlorine and alcohol. The surfaces 
which are to be united with it must first be covered 
with pure, thick glycerine. 

It will readily occur to the reader that in or to this, 
as in every recipe given in this book, modifications, 
alterations, and additions can be made, of very great 
value, adaptable to a great variety of substances. It 
is to be observed that in such cases as this, where one 
cannot be sure of the exact result, it is best, e.g., to 
first experiment with a very little finest pulverised 
oxide of lead with the glycerine. 

Another form of this powerful metallic cement is 
given as follows : — 

Concentrated glycerine . . •£ litre 
Litharge . . . . .5 kilogs. 

To make a cement to fill or close joints in zinc- 
work : — Soak three parts by weight of glue in water, 
pour off the superfluous water, dissolve the glue in 



176 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

warm water, stir into it six parts of slacked lime and 
one of flowers of sulphur. 

When ironwork, as, for instance, window-bars, is 
to be set in stone, the following is commended as 
taking a firm hold : — ■ 

Calcined gypsum .... 30 
Finely powdered iron ... 10 
Vinegar ...... 20 

The following recipes, though I have found many 
of them in other works, are here taken, with acknowl- 
edgment, from Lehner, as his proportions are invari- 
ably accurate, or confirmed by experiment. 

An iron cement which resists heat and moisture : — 

Clay , . . . • . 10 

Iron filings 5 

Vinegar . . . . . . 2 

Water ...... 3 

A VERY STRONG WATERPROOF CEMENT FOR IRON : — 

Iron filings ..... 100 
Sal-ammoniac ..... 2 
Water ...... 10 

This in a few days will begin to turn into a hard 
rust. 

Another oxidised cement, which holds like iron, is 
made as follows : — 

Iron filings . . . . .65 

Sal-ammoniac. .... 2.5 
Flowers of sulphur . . . .1.5 
Sulphuric acid . . . .1 



MENDING METAL-WORK 



177 



The sulphuric acid is diluted with water and added 
to the mixed powders. 

A rust or oxide cement, resisting fire : — 

Common iron filings . . -45 
Clay . . - .. . . .20 
Finest porcelain clay . . 15 

Salt in water 8 

Fine clay may be used in lack of the finest porcelain 
clay. 

An iron cement to resist heat : — 



Iron filings 


. . 


. 20 


Clay in powder j 


• 1 


. 45 


Borax 


. « 


. 5 


Salt . . . 


• 


. 5 


Peroxide of manganese 


10 



The borax and salt are melted in water and then 
quickly mixed with the remaining ingredients, which 
are in a combined powder. At a white-heat this be- 
comes a glassy substance, which seals hermetically. 

Iron cement to resist intense heat : — 



Pei oxide of manganese 


• 5 2 


White oxide of zinc . 


• 25 


Borax ..... 


• 5 


This is applied with silicate of soda. 


It must dry 


gradually. 




Iron cement to resist heat : — 




Iron filings .... 


100 


Clay . . . 


• 5° 


Salt 


10 


Flint-sand . 


20 



178 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Fireproof cement : — 

Iron filings ..... 140 
Hydraulic cement ... . .20 
Flint-sand ..... 25 
Sal-ammoniac .... 3 

This powder is made into a paste with vinegar. It 
must dry for a long time before being submitted to 
heat. 

Another cement of the same kind is as follows : — 

Iron filings ..... 180 
Clay . . . . . -45 
Salt 8 

This is also made up with vinegar, and must be 
dried for a long time. 

TO SET IRON IN STONE : — 

Iron filings, fine . . . . 10 

Calcined gypsum . . . . .30 

Sal-ammoniac .... 0.5 

Also combined with vinegar. 

When there are defects in iron castings, they may 
be filled up with the following cement : — 

Clean iron filings .... 100 
Flowers of sulphur . . . 0.5 

Sal-ammoniac . . . . 0.8 

To be mixed with water to a paste. It does not 
fuse nor act as a paste until exposed to gieat heat. 
Before applying it wash the edges to be united with 
liquid ammonia. Brimstone or sulphur melts iron 
very promptly when the' latter is red-hot, and applied 
to it, the iron will drop like melted sealing-wax. 



MENDING METAL-WORK 179 

A cement for iron stoves is made as follows : — 
lion filings . . . . . 100 

Chalk-marl ..... 40 
Flint-sand ..... 50 
Vinegar .... . . .20 

This is made into a paste, which can be rendered 
porous by mixing with it bristles, chopped straw, saw- 
dust, or chaff. When the latter is converted to coal 
by heat, the cement is, of course, full of cavities. In 
like manner, clay for water-coolers is made light and 
spongy by mixing it with salt. The salt gradually 
melts in the damp clay, forming a porous substance. 

When iron doors are to be hermetically sealed at 
very high temperatures the following may be used : — 

Finest iron filings .... 100 

Sal-ammoniac . . . 1 

Limestone . . ... 10 

Silicate of soda .... 10 

When the iron plates about a fireplace give way the 
following may be used : — 

Iron filings ..... 20 
Iron dross or refuse ... 12 

Calcined gypsum . . . .30 

Common salt . . . . .10 

This mixture may be combined with either blood 
or silicate of soda, preferably the latter, as the former 
has a disagreeable smell. 

Iron filings mixed with vinegar are allowed to stand 
till of a brown colour, and then driven with plugs 
and hammer into cavities, where they form a rust 
cement. 



i8o 



A MANUAL OF MENDING 



For cracks in iron pots, &c: — 

Iron filings 

Clay .... 



10 

60 



This is mixed with linseed-oil to a paste. It re- 
quires several weeks to harden, but forms a hard 
cement. 

A BLACK CEMENT FOR IRONWARE I — 



Iron filings 


10 


Sand ... 


12 


Ivory black 


10 


Slacked lime . 


12 


Lime water 


• 5 



Schwartz's iron cement for holes in pots, &c: — 

I. 



Finely powdered glue 
Finest iron dust 


. 4~5 

2 


Peroxide of manganese . 

Common salt 

Borax .... 


1 



To be powdered extremely fine or levigated and 
made with water to a paste. Resists fire and hot 
water. 

II. 

Pulverised peroxide of manganese . 1 
White oxide of zinc . . .1 

To be finely pulverised and combined with silicate 
of soda. 

An important part of all metal-mending is solder- 
ing. This is based on the principle that certain 



MENDING METAL-WORK 181 

metallic compounds which fuse at a very low heat 
can, however, be so brought into union with others 
which have an affinity for them as by melting to unite 
the harder objects. Thus bismuth, which will melt 
in hot water, has an affinity for lead, which combines 
easily with tin and brass, &c; as, in like manner, 
borax and resin with iron. 

Newton's solder (Lehner) : — 

Bismuth 8 

Tin 3 

Lead 5 

This melts at 94. 5 Celsius. 
Rose's solders : — 

I. 

Bismuth . . . . . .2 

Lead . . . . .1 

Tin . 1 

II. 

Bismuth 5 

Lead 3 

Tin . 2 

A METALLIC-GLASS SOLDER : — 

Lead . . # . .30 

Tin . . . . . . . 20 

Bismuth .25 

The lead is first carefully melted, then the tin add- 
ed, and the melted mixture carefully stirred ; the 
bismuth is put in last of all. 



182 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Cement for iron stoves : — 

Wood-ashes ..... 10 

Clay 10 

Calcined lime ..... 4 

To be mixed with water to form a firm paste. Also 
applicable to holes in trees. Clay mixed with waste- 
paper is also applicable for the latter purpose 
(Lehner). (Glue may be added to it.) This mixtuie 
of clay and paper should be well mixed with sour 
milk. 

CLAUS'S CEMENT FOR METAL AND GLASS I — 40 grammes 

of starch and 320 grammes purified chalk are dis- 
solved in 2 quarts water, into which is stirred \ pint 
solution of caustic soda. 

The most important part of mending broken metal- 
work is soldering, and this is so difficult to practically 
teach by mere writing, while it can be so easily 
learned from any tinsmith, or even tinker, that I 
deem it common-sensibly best to acquire it from the 
latter. Those who would study it in all its details, 
scientific or technological, may do so in Das Lothen 
und die Bearbeitung der Metalle, by Edmund Schlosser ; 
Vienna, A. Hartleben, pi ice 3s. 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 

TRUNKS, SHOES, OR IN ANY OTHER FORMS— JOIN- 
ING STRAPS— MAKING CHEAP SHOES 

Leather-work when much worn is seldom restored, 
and, except by a few experts, it is generally regarded 
as incurable. That is to say, that leather-work is 
only repaired by the same method in which it is made 
— that is, by sewing — when in fact a great deal is lost 
which might be saved, and much imperfectly repaired 
which might seem like new by resorting to a more 
scientific process. And therefore, having devoted 
much attention to it, I am persuaded that the worst 
cases may be mended. Within a week I purchased 
two small folio volumes which had been beautifully 
bound in black leather, embossed in deep relief, 
about 1520, in a style which was then becoming anti- 
quated. The pattern had been cut in a wooden 
mould, stamped on the wet leather, and then com- 
pletely worked over by hand with tracers and matted 
or stamped in the ground. But the black colour had 
been worn away from the relief and turned brown, 
and it was otherwise dilapidated at the edges. 

I took a volume and where the surface was ragged 
moistened it, applied gum-arabic in solution, and 



1 84 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

smoothed it down with an agate burnisher. Leather 
tieated in this way soon becomes like a paste. When 
it was all even I painted it over with strong liquid 
Indian ink. Common ink would have done as well. 
Then I varnished it over lightly with the admirable 
vernis a retoucher, No. 3, of Soehnek, which is flexi- 
ble, preservative, and does not crack. I may add for 
ladies that it smells like eau de cologne. This dries 
almost immediately. It may be had at all artists' 
material shops. Finally, I lubbed it for some time 
by hand. Then the binding was as good as new, 
yet not too new. It was simply perfectly restored. 

I have in the introduction mentioned another work 
which I also restored. This was a Madonna in high 
relief, very much dilapidated ; that is to say, it was 
of thin leather, which had been originally made in a 
mould, and was accordingly puffed out, so to speak, 
like a pie-crust. On the mould there had been laid a 
coat of muslin or cotton fabric ; this, when dry, had 
been very thinly covered with gesso or plaster of Paris, 
and on this, when dry, a thin wet leather had been 
pressed. I may here note that very often the gesso 
was then blackened without any leather being ap- 
plied, and that when thus blackened, covered, and 
varnished it looked exactly like leather — an easy art, 
which may be practised to profit by any one who can 
carve or buy moulds. 

On examining this, I found that it would be very 
difficult to repair it with good leather. I found in a 
shop some thin black sham-leather, such as the Japa- 
nese apparently manufacture from leather dust, made 
by grinding up all kinds of leather waste to a pow- 
der. It was wretched, rotten stuff as leather, but all 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 185 

the better suited to my puipose. Some of this I cut 
into small bits, and with a knife soon mashed it, mixed 
with gum-arabic and water, into a very smooth paste. 
With such a paste one can repair any tear, roughen- 
ing, or imperfection, care being taken that the paste 
and leather be alike in colour. With this I filled the 
hollows at the back, making the work solid ; and 
having wetted all the ragged edges and fractured or 
torn places, smoothed them down with gum and a 
pen or paper knife, supplying deficiencies with the 
black paste. When all was smooth and dry I applied 
a coat of Soehnee's varnish, and then rubbed it well 
down by hand. It was quite restored. 

As this varnishing leather may sound like a heresy 
to artistic leather-workers, I would ask them if they 
would consider an application of tannin in solution — 
which is the preservative principle of leather itself — 
as " inartistic* ' Certainly it is not, nor is the 
application of Soehnee (which is more of a sim-' 
pie preservative than a glaze) a mere finish for 
show. 

The leather-paste of which I speak has certain quali- 
ties of its own which make it quite different from any 
other substance. We may include in leather " paste" 
not only the mere dust made from the dried sub- 
stance, but all scraps, and also any thin leather, thor- 
oughly softened or macerated. Even in the latter 
form it is, combined with a binder, really a plastic 
substance, since it can be worked into any form with 
ease. Mixed with caoutchouc or indiarubber in solu- 
tion, and then dried, it is invaluable for mending 
boots and making waterproof soles. As I have indi- 
cated, it is excellent for mending old books. And 



i86 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

here I may mention that if you have, let us say, one 
cover of a book in high relief, and the other, it may 
be, lost or worn plain, you can supply or make the 
duplicate very easily, very cheaply, and in a short 
time as follows : — Take a sheet of soft, white news- 
paper, dampen it, and press it on the relief. As soon 
as possible, taking care not to wet the book, fill in 
the back of the squeeze either with other coats of wet 
paper, melted wax, or liquid plaster of Paris. When 
this is diy, wax or oil carefully the face of the squeeze, 
wipe it diy, and make a cast fiom it in leather-paste. 
Thus you will have a facsimile of the relief. From a 
solid plaster mould, well oiled or boiled in wax, a 
cast may be taken in softened or wet leather, which 
is even better ; it sets hard and tough. 

I may here mention that it is very unusual to see 
books bound in deep relief with hand-worked, black, 
or black and gold, antique patterns, and that such a 
cover, say of eight by ten inches, would probably 
cost at least a pound, and be cheap at that. And yet 
any girl of ordinary capacity with, let us say, fifty 
shillings' worth of moulds, and two weeks' practice 
in tracing and stamping grounds, could produce from 
two to four such book-covers as those before me in a 
day. 

There is now generally sold in furnishing or chem- 
ists' shops a good waterproof glue. Leather softened 
and then well incorporated with this is also water- 
proof, and may be used to mend trunks. I have 
known a torn boot to be mended in this manner, and 
that so well that it lasted for a long time. Even a 
leather strap which is subjected to great tugging may 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 187 

be restored, if cut or broken in two, by shaving the 
edges obliquely, so as to sharpen them. 



Then apply glue with acid, and before it is quite 
dry apply pressure, though not so great as to squeeze 
the glue out. Shaving across the edges, judicious 
pressing together, and final smoothing are of the 
greatest importance in all leather patching and piec- 
ing, because it depends on these to make the juncture 
imperceptible. Very few persons — even shoemakers 
— are at all aware of the degree of perfection to which 
mending rents in foot-covering can be carried by the 
use of waterproof glue, such as is sold by many chem- 
ists. I have worn such a patch for months, and it 
was hardly perceptible. But, like every art, it re- 
quires some practice to apply such patches properly, 
and I cannot promise to any lady that she can per- 
fectly and neatly patch a boot by simply daubing on 
a piece of leather at a first trial. 

It may be noted that in such strap-joining as that 
which I have described, the repair will be greatly 
strengthened by pasting very thin bits of leather, or 
even of muslin, over the edges and pressing them in. 
It is true that this cover will soon wear away, but 
meanwhile the mended leather is all the while grow- 
ing stronger and uniting more perfectly. Even paper, 
glued and pressed on, materially aids to make the 
exposed joint unite. 

And here I may say that many a lady and youth 
would do well to take a few practical lessons from 



188 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

any shoemaker in the noble art of cobbling ; that is 
to say, of heeling, soleing, and patching, all of which 
are as easy to learn as steps in dancing, and are even 
more interesting or amusing when once mastered. It 
is, m#reover, an art which will be of use through 
life. Those who can do this will probably, if am- 
bitious by nature, progress to making slippers, it 
may be shoes ; and he who can do this may be as- 
sured that he never need quite starve to death while 
human beings go shod. It is not so difficult as many 
think, for I have known shoemakers of very ordinary 
minds, and I also once knew a mechanical artist who 
learned to make a fine pair of shoes in a few weeks. 
In fact, there is a living in a great many things for 
those who have once learned to use their fingers. 

Few people are aware of the extraordinary dura- 
bility of leather-work of certain kinds. There are in 
the British Museum Roman sandals, probably made 
of raw hide, but cut into pretty form, which were 
found in the Thames, and which look as new as if 
recently made. I have seen within a day as I write a 
gracefully formed pitcher of the early fifteenth cen- 
tury of very solid black leather, like the old black- 
jacks once common in England, which has probably 
passed through centuries of use, and is as perfect as 
ever. Wood splits, earthenware breaks, and metal 
rusts, but raw hide, or cuir bouilli, as set forth in the 
old song of the " Leather Bottel," seems to endure 
every trial. As the man commemorated in 4< ^Esop's 
Fables" declared, " After all, there is nothing like 
leather." The reader who may be especially inter- 
ested in this easiest of all the minor arts may consult 
on this subject my Manual of Leather-Work (5s.) ; 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 



189 



Whittaker & Co., 2 White Hart Street, Paternoster 
Square, London, E.C. 

Stiips of raw hide are without equal for repairing 
broken vehicles, wheels, saddles, and similar articles, 
because they shrink while drying, drawing everything 
tight, and set so hard when once dry that what is 
mended is often stronger than before. I have else- 
where mentioned that the strongest trunks in the 
world are made in America from it, as they had need 
to be, since there is no country in the world where 
the "baggage-smasher," figurative or literal, is so 
much to be feared. 

The reader who has occasion to repair anything in 
leather should study the chapter of this book which 
treats of indiaiubber and gutta-percha, the subjects 
being in many respects the same. 

A strong cement for leather is made by combining 
gutta-percha and Schwefelkohlenstoff, or bisulphide of 
caibon, with petroleum to a syrupy consistency. A 
very good cement specially adapted to joining leather 
straps is as follows : — 

Asphalt 12 

Resin ...... 10 

Gutta-percha . . . . .40 

Bisulphide of carbon . . . 150 
Petroleum . . . .60 



The materials, excepting the Schwefelkohlenstoff, are 
put together in a bottle which stands in hot water for 
several hours ; when the mass has grown thick with 
the petroleum add the rest, and let the whole stand 
for several days, shaking it very often. If the pieces 
of leather to be united are first heated and then 



i 9 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

pressed very tightly together, the adhesion will be in- 
creased. This cement is as well adapted for glass, 
crockery, horn, ivory, wood, or metal as for leather. 
It is admirable for mending trunks, whether made of 
leather, wood, or pasteboard. 

When a trunk is made of any of these, and a hole 
is broken through the side or top, take a newspaper 
and coat it with this cement, applying another, till 
there are a dozen or more thicknesses. If, as it grad- 
ually dries, this be pressed and hardened with a 
roller, or even a round ruler, it will be much im- 
proved. Glue this into or upon the fracture. In 
most cases with care it can be made as strong as ever. 
Where a rib is broken it should be promptly replaced. 
{Vide Metal-Work.) All trunks should be covered 
with waterproof glue or varnish, as it effectually pro- 
tects them from exposure to the rain. This is very 
rarely done, however, the result being an immense 
amount of loss to all travellers. In any town where 
there is a chemist's shop, and where a bit of india- 
rubber is to be had, even at the stationer's, a water- 
proof cement can be at once manufactured. The 
easiest of these to prepare is the following : — 

Gutta-percha ..... ioo 
Pine resin ..... 200 

The resin is first melted in a pan, the gutta-percha, 
in very small bits, being gradually stirred in till all is 
amalgamated. When used it must be warmed again. 
This cement can be used for as many different articles 
as the preceding. 

It may here be noted that vast quantities of waste 
leather from shoemakers and bookbinders, which sell 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 191 

for a mere trifle, can be utilised to make admirable 
waterproof carpets and wall-covers. The leather is 
first soaked till soft, then smoothed out and mixed 
with waterproof cement, and rolled into one flat 
piece. This makes a very cheap sub-carpet for win- 
ter — better than oil-cloth, being softer. For walls it 
can be pressed in moulds, gilded, or painted. If 
varnished there is no unpleasant smell from it. The 
harder it is compressed or rolled the more will all 
smell disappear. Even with rolling by hand with a 
bread-roller almost all substances — for instance, paper, 
cloth-rags, sawdust, leather, clay, wool, cotton-wool, 
when combined with any fit adhesive or cement — can 
be made very hard or tough ; and it is remarkable, 
considering the cheapness of the materials, how little 
this principle is as yet applied. 

It may be remarked that there are many people 
who do not know what to do when the sole of a boot 
splits off or wears away and there is no shoemaker at 
hand. If the hejel is lost and no leather can be had, 
a very good substitute can be cut from wood and 
cemented on. A few tacks will make it last as long 
almost as leather. If a piece of sole leather can be 
got, even fiom another old shoe, one or two layers 
can be cemented on to make a sole. A short screw 
or nail through three-quarters of the heel greatly aids 
in making the layers adhere. This may also be done 
with a vice. 

In the town of Bagni di Lucca, where I now am, a 
pair of leather shoes with wooden soles, such as are 
commonly worn by women and children, cost only 
fivepence. They are, of course, rough, but still far 
better than none. The sole is rudely and very easily 



192 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

cut, with a high heel, from white pine or larch wood. 
The upper is a single piece of leather, which only 
covers the front half of the foot. It is moistened and 
bent into shape, and then tacked or glued on. Many- 
people simply buy the soles, then the leather, and 




Italian {Lucchese) Pi as ant Shoe> costing from $d. to 8d. per fair % 
undecorated. 



make the shoes for themselves, in which case the ex- 
pense does not amount to more than twopence. In 
Florence there is often added to this the back, or 
heel-piece, which costs twopence more, and makes an 
almost perfect shoe. This art would be worth know- 
ing in a wild country. 

Lehner {vide Indiarubber and Gutta-percha) spe- 
cially commends for mending soles the composition 
of — Gutta-percha, 10 ; benzine, ioo ; linseed-oil var- 
nish, ioo. It is extremely elastic and tough, and 
therefore suitable to soles. Mixed with black dye, 
or made with japan, it forms patent leather or pol- 
ished leather. It should for this purpose be applied 
with a broad brush in thin successive coats, and well 
diied before applying a new one. This is far supe- 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 193 

rior to ordinary blacking ; it is more easily applied, 
and does not injure the leather so much, because the 
latter is often made with vitriol, which, while it 
promptly gives a shine, eats away the fibre. Boots 
and shoes will, in fact, wear much longer with this 
coating than without it. 

This is even more applicable to a great deal of har- 
ness, saddle, and bridle mending, and restoring sheet 
leather in every form ; as, for instance, waggon cur- 
tains, when worn and dry. First soften the leather, 
then restore its quality, if required, with tannin or 
indiarubber in solution. If very dry and exhausted, 
it may first be treated with neat's-foot oil for several 
days. Then sew it up, if a seam, or mend by apply- 
ing leather and the cement. If all persons who own 
much harness would carefully study this subject, 
they would be astonished to find what economy could 
be effected by judicious mending. 

It may happen that the reader may have occasion 
to wish to renew black, glazed leather-work, or to 
make a brilliant black pattern on a brown ground in 
stamped leather. I have often executed it with suc- 
cess. In such a case it suffices to simply blacken the 
leather with ink or dye, and then coat it with any 
flexible varnish ; that is, one into which glycerine or 
gutta-percha has been infused. Any one who can 
draw can in this manner execute very beautiful work 
for covering walls, panels, chests, or doors. Or flexi- 
ble black varnish can be directly applied. 

Lehner gives a recipe for attaching leather to 
metal, which may also be applied to any other sub- 
stance : — Cover the leather with a thin and very hot 
coating of glue, press it on the metal, and then wet 



i 9 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

the other side with a strong solution of gall-apples or 
tannin (Zo/ie, extract of oak-bark) till it is thoroughly 
penetrated. The tannin combines with the glue, and 
attaches the leather with extreme tenacity to the 
metal, &c. It is advisable to roughen the metallic 
surface to facilitate adhesion. 

By combining glue (and many other adhesives) 
directly with the tannin or gall nut astringent we ob- 
tain a waterproof cement of great strength, which is 
very useful for shoes. It is, in fact, not at all a diffi- 
cult matter, where other appliances are wanting, to 
make from leather, without sewing, a soled shoe 
when tannin and glue are obtainable. The same can 
be done with canvas. 

During the great wars in America thousands of 
soldiers often went barefoot in winter-time, with 
abundance of horses or cattle killed all round them, 
because they did not know that a strong moccasin 
can be made by cutting out a piece of raw hide, pieic- 
ing holes in it, and drawing it up like a bag round 
the ankles, as is so commonly done here in the moun- 
tain districts in Italy. I once astonished a soldier in 
the war by suggesting this, and he declared he must 
try it. It is remarkable how rarely man in an unedu- 
cated state ever invents anything, be it a myth, a tale, 
or a practical invention. 

If the upper leather of a slipper or shoe be cut out, 
it can, if wet, be easily made to assume the form of a 
foot by drying it on a last, or even on another shoe. 
Let the seam of the back jut or flap over the edge, and 
allow full selvage for the rest to turn under the sole. 
The latter may be of sole leather. If there is none, 
glue two or three pieces of the leather together with 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 195 

the tannin cement, and ioll them over strongly. Then 
glue the back and the under-lap with great care. 
With a little practice a fairly good shoe can be thus 
made. Canvas can be used in the same way. To 
dwellers in the wilderness this may be valuable in- 
formation. But very pretty ornamental slippers can 
be made by young ladies out of scraps of gaily col- 
oured leather. They can buy a pair of soles, and get 
the leather at a leather-dealer's. This is all simply 
substituting glueing for sewing, and strong tannin- 
glue holds quite as strongly as a great deal of the sew- 
ing of cheap, machine-made shoes. It would, indeed, 
not be a very difficult or expensive thing to shoe or 
clothe all mankind comfortably, were it not for the 
fashions followed by the wealthy. 

These very cheap shoes, made with either wooden 
or leather soles, and that so easily that a child can 
learn to manufacture them in an hour, can be easily 
ornamented so as to be really attractive. Take the 
leather, moisten it with a sponge, and then with a 
tracer, which is like the end of a screw-driver — i.e. — 



draw a pattern in the damp, soft leather. When it 
dries the pattern will remain. Then with a point or 
stamp, dot or roughen the ground. Finally, when 
dry, paint the pattern black, and then varnish it. 
Anybody with the least knowledge of drawing can 
make and sell such ornamented shoes for a good 
profit, as they are as yet hardly known to anybody. 



196 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Other colouis may be substituted for black, or gild- 
ing applied. 

I have in another place shown {vide Papier-Mache) 
how good artificial leather can be made by combining 
paper — best in pulp — with indiarubber and benzole 
fluid solution. Also how soles can be made by steep- 
ing pasteboard in the same, and how these, which 
are very easily and cheaply made, can be glued on to 
the leather so as to protect the latter fiom wearing 
out, for ever, if renewed. A bottle of this cement, 
combined with Diamond or Turkish Cement, will in 
like manner repair boots when the sole begins to 
split or part ; and if applied when it begins to gape, 
it will be closed for a long time. This is such a prac- 
tical, cheap, and easy method of making boots and 
shoes last, that my wonder is that every man who 
goes shod, and especially every traveller, has not a 
bottle of it by him. Observe that the two edges 
should be w r ell pinched or screwed together (a six- 
penny vice will answer for this), and the leather first 
heated, though all this is not a sine qua non, but only 
an improvement. 

Leather thus attached by a very strong cement is 
quite as durable and much pleasanter to wear than 
" copper toes'* or iron heels, which assimilate their 
wearers to horses. And it takes no longer to make 
and attach a heel or a sole in this manner than to 
black a pair of boots, as I have myself verified within 
a few hours. 

Where seams rip out, the best repairing is by sew- 
ing as shoemakers do, which is not hard to learn, and 
I advise all young people to learn it. But where sew- 
ing cannot be resorted to, the cement, well applied 



REPAIRING LEATHER-WORK 197 

and compressed till dry, will hold almost any break 
for a long time. 

I urge ladies of all classes and' conditions to care- 
fully consider this chapter. They are more accus- 
tomed to repairing than men, and will take to it more 
intelligently. As their chaussures are made of thinner 
leather than ours, they need repair oftener, but are, 
on the other hand, so much the easier to repair. 
Every mother of a family will at least profit by study- 
ing this book. 

Shoemakers' paste, much used for shoes, belongs 
properly to leather-work. It is made by boiling 
crushed barley to a thick mess, the water being kept 
extremely hot. It is then set aside till fermentation 
begins, which announces itself by an extremely offen- 
sive smell. Thence it passes to a stage in which it 
is a brownish syrupy mass, possessing great power 
as an adhesive. It is now taken from the fire and a 
little carbolic acid added to arrest fermentation. 
This can be used by itself for an adhesive ; it also 
combines well with indifferent substances, such as 
powdered lime, or chalk, white zinc, ochre, clay, 
or umber. It may be as well used for binding 
books. 

I have already given a very good recipe for reunit- 
ing broken leather straps. I here add another from 
Lehner. It is very good, but hardly worth the very 
considerable extra trouble and expense as compared 
to the former : — 

Gilders' glue 250 

Sturgeon's bladder .... 60 
Gum-arabic 60 



198 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Reduce to bits and boil in water to a solution, to 
which add : — 

Venice turpentine . . . 5 

Oil of turpentine . . .6 

Spirits of wine . . . .10 

The strap-ends, or pieces of leather, having been 
thoroughly cleaned, are now covered with the ad- 
hesive and pressed together between hot plates, where 
the work must remain till cold. 

A very good artificial leather, perfectly waterproof, 
may be made by covering a strip of strong paper, or, 
better still, one of glazed muslin, with the gutta- 
percha cement. Add to this fresh layers of cement 
and paper, till the requisite thickness is obtained. 
This is useful for mending soles. Where the gutta- 
percha or indiarubber cement is not to be had, sub- 
stitute copal varnish and glycerine, or thick turpen- 
tine varnish and a little glycerine. 



TO MEND HATS, BLANKETS, AND 
SIMILAR FABRICS BY FELTING 

Wool, as is well known, if put into a pair of shoes, 
will pack or settle into a solid felt sole if the shoes 
are worn. This felt is like cloth. The same can be 
done by rolling it like dough on a board with a 
roller. Lay the cloth or hat to be mended so that 
the felt to be made can be worked into it. Then take 
fine wool and clean and roll it thoroughly, working 
it into the edges. It may happen many a time to a 
man without a needle to succeed in mending gar- 
ments in this manner. 

Waterproof glue or adhesive, such as is fully de- 
scribed in the chapter on Indiarubber, may be added 
to facilitate the adhesion of the felt to the cloth or 
felt ground. There is a peculiar art or knack of 
working moistened felt into the edges of cloth, and 
of ironing or pressing them down so as not to show, 
which can, however, be soon acquired. In this way 
cloth may be glued upon cloth with very good effect. 
The extraordinary tenacity and fineness of the ad- 
hesives now made, be it specially observed, renders 
mending of this kind (which was impossible a gener- 
ation ago) now perfectly possible. I advise those 
who doubt this to get a piece of cloth and experi- 



200 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

merit for themselves. The patch may not be invisi- 
ble, but it will look better than if botched with a 
needle. Felt, however, can easily be repaired to per- 
fection. 

Large pieces of stuff can be made by rolling slightly 
gummed wool, which fact many men do not know, 
even when living in the wilderness, where wool or 
hair may be abundant. Nothing is so common as to 
see shepherds in utter raggedness where the very 
shreds of wool left by their sheep on the thorns would 
clothe them, with a little industry. The quality, 
durability, and fineness of felt depend on the quality 
of the wool, and the care and skill of the operator. 
Many of the cheap cloths known as shoddy are really 
felts. 

Felt is easily formed, because under certain condi- 
tions it seems to have a strange tendency to form 
itself. The reader knows that a string in the pocket, 
subjected to our every movement, will inevitably 
tangle and knot itself up in the most mysterious man- 
ner ; and so the fibres of wool, if rubbed together, 
twine and bind themselves into most intimate union. 
I earnestly advise all who expect to live where sheep 
are plenty, and tailors or seamstresses few and far 
between, to experiment in felt-making, and, if possi- 
ble, learn from a hatmaker how it is done. There 
was at one time in New York a factory where strong, 
serviceable suits of felt cloth were made, and these, 
consisting of coat, waistcoat, and trousers, were sold 
at retail for five dollars, or one pound — I myself hav- 
ing seen them. 

When a piece of cloth is thus adjusted or applied 
to fill a hole or mend a rent, the edges may be either 



TO MEND HATS, ETC. 201 

simply gummed and adjusted, or they may be treated 
with a mixture of felt or cloth-dust and gum. In this 
case, before the adhesive is quite hard, yet after it has 
ceased to be soft, lay over the patch a piece of cloth 
of exactly the same kind, and press it with a warm 
flat-iron. (Vide Invisible Mending of Garments, 
Laces, or Embroideries.) 

In most cases a torn woollen garment may be very 
well restored by carefully sewing a piece into the 
hole, or by uniting the edges with long stitches. 
Then make a paste of felt or dust, or short, fine 
threads of the same ci$th, with indiarubber cement, 
and work it over the surface. With practice this can 
be done so neatly as to quite conceal the mending. 
Pass an iron over the whole. When indiarubber 
cement cannot be obtained, glue mixed with one- 
fourth glycerine can be used. 

Ammonia combined with wool forms a solvent 
which is also a cement. I have not experimented 
with it. 



INVISIBLE MENDING OF GARMENTS, 
LACES, OR EMBROIDERIES 

Most people are aware that there are tailors or others 
who aie such artists in mending that they can sew up 
a rent " in almost anything" so skilfully that the tear 
cannot be perceived. I have myself seen this done 
so admirably in fine black cloth that not only was 
there no sign of a tear perceptible, but none was 
manifest after long wearing the garment. This 
nicety is partly due to skill, but there is also a method 
in it. Such mending is specially shown in Italy by 
Jewesses in repairing valuable old laces, embroideries, 
and the like. As a very large proportion of those 
who buy and sell such goods are Jews, it is but nat- 
ural that their wives and female friends should be 
specially employed in mending. The process which 
they employ is as follows : — 

" Thread a needle with one of your own 
hairs, then draw the edge of the rent or 
tear together in this manner, darning it, 
as it were, very finely and carefully, for 
it is in this that the whole art consists. 
11 After this take a piece of cloth as near like to the 
stuff you wish to mend as you can obtain. Lay this 
piece on the rent so as to cover it, then damp it 
slightly, and press it down with a hot iron until the 
surface looks quite even." 




INVISIBLE MENDING OF GARMENTS 203 

It may here be observed that, firstly, the thinner the 
thread used, so that it be only strong enough to hold, 
the less probability is there that the repair will show. 
For this purpose, for extremely delicate mending a 
human hair is almost invisible ; for most work silk 
thread will answer. It is, however, more likely to 
cut through the edge than a hair, because the hair is 
more elastic. 

Secondly, it may be observed that the so-called 
darning is really a kind of invisible weaving, and not 
a sewing together or a stitching close of edges, which 
latter, as it always puckers up or rises, must show 
the line of repair. The darning has its strength of 
attachment afar off, not close to the edges ; it makes, 
as it were, a kind of network or a weaving together 
of the cloth — that is, the cloth is woven again into 
one piece by an invisible thread which hides itself in 
the thicker fabric. The laying down of a cloth of 
precisely the same texture as that mended, and then 
ironing it, is very ingenious, because one of a differ- 
ent kind would produce a different impression. 

The friend from whom I received the above, Miss 
Roma Lister, adds that the Jewesses do this kind of 
work very well, but ask a franc or twenty-five sous 
for mending the smallest rent. However, when the 
torn shawl is once finished you cannot see where the 
hole has been. 

Somewhat allied to this is the patient German 
method of mending stockings by reknitting ; also 
that of spreading strong flexible glue on a patch of 
chamois. This is laid under the rent, the edges being 
carefully reunited over it. I would here suggest that 
if the tear be first carefully darned, even with human 



2o 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

hair or finest silk, and the gummed leather then ap- 
plied to the reverse, the mending would endure for a 
much longer time. 

There is a stitch known in Germany as Kettenstich, 
or chain-stitch — though it is not that which is gener- 
ally known among us as the " German chain-stitch/ ' 
It is peculiarly long and strong, and will hold to- 
gether the edges of even soft leather , for which reason 
it is generally used in Turkey and Russia to sew to- 
gether the many-coloured pieces of leather such as we 
see in Kasanwork — slippers and boots — and cushions 
from Constantinople. This is a valuable stitch for 
close, invisible mending. It is allied to the lock- 
stitch of the sewing-machine. 
a A great variety of fabrics can be carefully adjusted 
v and drawn together over a piece of strong, glazed 
^anuslin (of the same colour) covered with waterproof 
glue — e.g., indiarubber or glue and rubber cement — 
so that the mending will not be apparent. This proc- 
ess is very applicable to loose skirts, or to any gar- 
ments on which there is no such severe pull, as, e.g., 
trousers or coat-sleeves. To effect these as well as 
all other repairs perfectly it will be necessary to ex- 
periment a few times. Unfortunately nearly all ama- 
teurs without exception make no experiment till it is 
necessary to repair something, and then, because they 
very naturally botch it, find fault with the recipe. 
Yet, strangely as it may sound, there are many cases 
in which mending or making fabrics can be executed 
far more neatly with a very strong cement, such as 
that of mastic and sturgeon's bladder, than with 
needle and thread, the former actually requiring less 
margin to hold than the average width of a seam, for 



INVISIBLE MENDING OF GARMENTS 205 

the least possible overlap suffices to bind where the 
adhesive is strong. This process of mending is little 
known, probably because there has been hitherto very 
little general knowledge of the immense strength and 
tenacity of certain cements, which have, indeed, only 
been discovered of late. For all ordinary mending, 
in fact, glue with glycerine, or glue and indiarubber 
solution in benzole, will answer as well as the far 
more expensive Turkish or Diamond cement. 

If the reader will only reflect that a large propor- 
tion of all black and glossy silks are heavily gummed, 
sometimes up to their own weight, it will be under- 
stood that there can be no substance with which they 
can be more appropriately mended than with cement 
— a fact well known to many who employ postage- 
stamps or black court-plaster to heal their rents ; but 
as this is generally very expensive, and as any olcT* 
silk and glue or gelatine, or dextrine, answer just as 
well, the latter had better be considered. 

There is much weaving of the most exquisite fabrics 
done in the East, and even among savages, almost 
entirely by hand ; that is to say, the threads are sim- 
ply attached to a rod, while the woof is worked in 
with a needle. Most fabrics can be mended by an 
analogous process, which is a remaking the cloth. 
Much depends on the proper finishing or dressing the 
surface by laying on it a piece of cloth and ironing it. 



MENDING MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND 
CORAL 

Mother-of-Pearl is the shell of the pearl-oyster 
(Avigu/a margaritiferd), much admired for its beauti- 
ful texture and white colour, in which there is a 
peculiar iridescence or rainbow play of colours. The 
best, and by far the principal portion in commerce, 
comes from the islands of the Pacific. It has risen 
immensely in value of late years. Almost, if not 
quite, equal to it is the East Indian, from the Sulu 
Islands, Ceylon, and Aden, or the Persian Gulf. An 
inferior kind comes from the Eastern Mediterranean, 
also another from America. 

The iridescent glaze, accompanied with more or 
less of the mother or solid substance, is found in a 
very great number of shells ; e.g., the Peter's Ear 
(Halyotis iris) of the Pacific ; also in common mussels, 
especially the Unio y found in most clear streams or 
brooks in Europe and America where there is not 
much lime. These often yield peails of great value. 

Mother-of-pearl can be sawed without any great 
difficulty into plates, which are polished with fine 
sand and then with tripoli. Of late a great deal of 
small furniture inlaid with squares and triangles of 
this material has found its way from Turkey and 



MENDING MOTHER OF-PEARL 207 

Persia to London. These pieces are simply attached 
with cement made of sturgeon's bladder, mastic, sal- 
miac, or even glue. They can generally be obtained 
from dealers in Oriental goods. Abraham Sassoon, 
of Wat dour Street, will supply them in any quantity. 

Louis Edgar Andes and Sigmund Lehner, both 
experimental technologists, have given several curi- 
ous recipes for imitating mother-of-pearl. From filing 
or grinding, the best mother-of-pearl shell becomes 
like a white metal, which can be combined with white 
of egg or pure white gelatine to a fine marble-like 
substance, which, however, lacks iridescence. Broken 
into very small pieces, which are set in a bed of glue 
and glycerine, and then covered, when dry, with an- 
other coating of the same, we have what its inventor, 
Lehner, assures us is a very good imitation of pearl- 
shell. 

But there is scaled away from a variety of shells a 
coating of nacre, or coloured glaze, which when pow- 
dered still retains the pearly lustre. This may be 
taken even from the common American oyster or all 
mussels. According to Andes, who refers, I think, 
to this, it can be laid on any substance and covered 
with a gum-glaze. He also informs us that the pearl- 
like inner layers of oyster-shells, or of any other kind, 
reduced to powder and mixed with sturgeon's blad- 
der and spirits, painted on grey paper in several 
coats, present the appearance of nacre. I have seen 
specimens of such painting which were indeed very 
pretty, but the pearly iridescence was rather faint. 
According to the author, the pearly brilliancy is much 
increased by an addition of silver-bronze powder. 

I conclude from this, not having in this instance 



2o8 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

experimented personally, save in carving pearl, that 
coarse powders of the highly coloured greenish and 
other nacres of tropical shells, as well as of the Euro- 
pean mussel and some other shells, can be combined 
with binding-gums of a transparent nature so as to 
form a very admirable imitation of mother-of-pearl. 

I may here remark, in connection with this, that 
the common American clam {Venus mercernarid) has a 
white shell of intense hardness, which, when polished, 
is as beautiful as porcelain or ivory ; also that the 
purple spot in the American oyster-shell, from which 
the Indians made a very hard and beautiful bead, 
might easily be drilled out for buttons. 

A very beautiful imitation of mother-of-pearl is 
made in Japan. It is not, however, iridescent. It is 
said to be made with lice. I conjecture that this is 
rice treated with diluted acid. 

I have before me now a string of 400 imitation red 
coral beads, price twopence, such as are commonly 
sold everywhere. They are manufactured of vermil- 
ion powder, rice-flour, and gum, and, when they are 
carefully made, are extremely hard and durable, so 
much so that the composition may be used to mend 
broken articles made of red coral. Such objects in a 
fractured state are very common in curiosity shops, 
but the art of repairing them seems to be as yet un- 
known, though it is extremely profitable. 

Of coral, Lehner tells us that celluloid in combina- 
tion with different substances — e.g., white zinc or 
cinnabar — can be coloured from delicate rose to fiery 
vermilion, and forms a very close imitation of coral. 
A very good and much cheaper imitation can be made 
by preparing perfectly white paper-paste {vide Papier- 



MENDING MOTHER-OF-PEARL 209 

Mache), and combining it with vermilion, zinc, &c. 
From such artificial coral very beautiful cups, plates, 
and ornaments for inlaying, beads, pendants for jew- 
ellery, book-covers, &c, can easily be made. The 
colour can be varied to turquoise, emerald, ebony, 
ivory, &c, by simply changing the colouring-powders 
used. 

There is a very cheap and common imitation of 
coral made by dipping vermicelli, twigs, &c, into a 
solution of red sealing-wax in spirits of wme. This 
is, however, extremely brittle. White marble-dust, 
or very fine white flint sand, combined with vermilion 
and silicate of soda, is said to produce a very admira- 
ble imitation of coral. The basis of levigated sand, 
or carbonate of lime, with silicate, can be varied with 
the dyes to imitate any gems, and is invaluable for 
mending pottery or stone-work. 

Coial and several other substances are also imitated 
by combining about nine parts of very clear glue to 
one of glycerine. This is qualified with one equiva- 
lent of white zinc or dye-stuffs. Thus the glue basis 
is combined with colcothar, ochre-sepia, umber, ochre, 
or chrome. This is also a valuable cement for mend- 
ing a great variety of objects. 

Any fine white shells ground to powder may be 
combined with gum and a very little glycerine and 
vermilion to make artificial coral ; also white glue or 
gelatine with glycerine. This may be made in quan- 
tity for casts of all kinds of objects, such as plates in 
inlaid work. 



RESTORING AND REPAIRING 
PICTURES 

" The restoration of disfigured and decayed works 
of art is ?iext in importance to their production'' 
—Field, Chromatography. 

1 published in 1864 a work entitled The Egyptian 
Sketch Book, which began with the following abridged 
account of how oil pictures are cleaned : — 

" Three young painters had often heard what the 
American Page has proved, that by carefully peeling 
the pictures of certain great artists, coat by coat, one 
may learn all their secrets of colour. So, having ob- 
tained an undoubted Titian, representing the Holy 
Virgin, they laid it on a table and proceeded to re- 
move the outer vainish by means of friction with the 
fingers ; which varnish very soon rose up in a cloud 
of white dust, and acted very much as a shower of 
snuff would have done. 

4< Then they arrived at the ' naked colours,' which 
had by this time assumed a very crude form, owing 
to the fact that a certain amount of liquorish tincture, 
as of Turkey rhubarb, or tinct. rhabarbara, had be- 
come incorporated with the varnish, and to which the 
colours had been indebted for their golden warmth. 



RESTORING PICTURES 211 

"This bi ought them to the glazing proper, which 
had been deprived of the evidence of the age or an- 
tiquity by the removal of the patina, or little cups, 
which had formed in the canvas between the web and 
the woof. 

1 The next process was to remove the glaze fiom 
the saffron robe, composed of yellow lake and burnt 
sienna. This brought them to a flame colour, in 
which the modelling had been made. They next at- 
tacked the robe of the Virgin Mary, and having taken 
away the crimson lake, were astonished to find a 
greenish drab. When they had thus in turn removed 
every colour in the picture, dissecting every part by 
diligent care, loosening every glaze by solvents too 
numerous to mention — including alcohol and various 
adaptations of alkali — they had the ineffable satisfac- 
tion of seeing the design in a condition of crude, blank 
chiaroscuro. Blinded by enthusiasm, having made 
careful notes of all they had done, they flew at the 
white and black with pumice-stone and potash ; when, 
lo and behold ! something very rubicund appeared, 
which further excavation declared was the tip of the 
red — nose of King George the Fourth ! The Titian 
for which they had sacrificed so much was a false 
god." 

The foregoing extracts were dictated by the late 
Henry Merritt, a very distinguished restorer and 
artist, the author of Pictures and Art separated in the 
Works of the Old Masters, and other works of which I 
can truly say that the name Merritt indicates that 
nonien est omen. I was often by him while at his work, 
and had the benefit of seeing the processes employed 
and the progress which he made in bringing to light 



2i2 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

the " buried beauties" of pictures by great attists. 
What I have since learned in addition will be found 
in the following pages. 

Though it is simple and easy to describe the man- 
ner in which old pictures in general are restored, it 
must be borne in mind that, as regards a detailed and 
comprehensive description, the task would be the 
most difficult in the whole range of repairing ; for 
when a picture has suffered so much that repainting 
is absolutely necessary, then nothing but the skill of 
the original artist himself would ever do full justice 
to it. In many cases we have pictures, like decayed 
works in wood, so far gone that only a mere hint or 
sketch of the original remains, so that they are gen- 
erally deemed not worth keeping. In such cases the 
restorer or repairer may very well do his best. There 
is, and always will be, an immense field for every 
skilled repairer in this remaking of antiques, to great 
profit, because there is an unlimited supply of mate- 
rial, almost everywhere, wherewith to work. 

To be a perfectly accomplished restorer of pictures 
one should be an expert in chemistry, and not only 
one very familiar with all the styles and schools of 
art, and gifted with great knowledge of the technique 
of great artists, but also no mean painter oneself. 
There is a very general, but very vulgar and stupid, 
popular belief that the restoration and cleaning of old 
pictures is a merely mechanical art, about on a par 
with house-painting as regards skill or intelligence ; 
but this I earnestly deny, having found, since I have 
practised it myself, that it affords a wide field to in- 
genuity, and that the greatest artists living — I care 
not who they may be — can find in restoration tasks 



RESTORING PICTURES 213 

which would fully tax all their skill, knowledge, or 
genius. 

Before proceeding to clean or repair a picture it is 
often advisable for the artist to make an outline 
sketch of it with great care, in order to correct and 
guide him in details. To do this, take very trans- 
parent tracing-paper — the recipe for making which is 
elsewhere given — then with a soft crayon-pencil, or a 
very black lead-pencil (from 3 to 4 B), trace the 
whole. If the paper be not transparent enough, then 
use thin glass, or, what is far better, sheets of mica, 
gummed together at the edges, which will not break 
even if dropped. Trace the picture on this with a 
fine brush and black oil-colour, or any black paint 
which will hold. Then make a tracing from this on 
transparent paper. To transfer crayon or lead pencil 
drawing to wood or paper, very slightly dampen the 
suiface of the latter, lay the tracing on it face down, 
and rub the back of the latter with a burnisher or 
ivory paper-knife. It will thus be perfectly trans- 
ferred. This making preparatory sketches or copies 
will be found in many cases extremely useful, as 
training the eye carefully to the work to be done. 

It is not invariably true, though a great authority 
on picture-cleaning (Henry Mogford) has declared 
the contrary — that "pictures . . . unquestionably 
enjoy their highest perfection at the first moment of 
production." Many artists recognise the truth that 
a year, or even years, are needed to give a certain 
delicate tone, which is like the ripeness of fruit, to 
certain pictures; and the same is true of certain 
artists, though by no means in the same degree of all. 
But there are many persons who can associate the 



2i 4 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

mellowing tones of age or the venerable grey of an- 
tiquity with nothing but dirt, decay, and poverty ; as 
was the case with an Italian marquis, who, having 
heard that a distinguished artist 1 had copied an old 
moss-grown wall or fragment of ruin on his estate, 
sent an apology to the latter, stating that if he had 
known that such a distinguished person intended to 
copy it he would have had it cleaned and lime- washed, 
not in glaring white (he knew better than that, he 
said), but in light blue ! So I have known an Ameri- 
can gentleman to be distressed at discovering the ap- 
pearance of lichen on a corner of a " spick-and-span, 
brand-new villa," which he at once declared must be 
cleaned and painted all over. People who suffer 
fiom this vulgar mania of over-scouring are apt to 
imagine that when they detect the least sign of age in 
a picture it suggests dirt and neglect, and hurry it 
off to the cleaner ; unless, indeed (as is too often the 
case), they — with insufficient knowledge, and with 
" notions generally derived from guess-work, and 
suggested by the usual arrangements for taking care 
of other household objects" — attempt to restore the 
work themselves, which has been the cause of the 
ruin of thousands of great works of art. 

It may here be observed that modern pictures, 
owing to the hurried processes of manufacture and 
the use of cheap materials in machinery-made paints, 
change so rapidly that many lose half their value in 
fifty years' time. And, as if this were not enough, 
we have the sulphuric acids generated by coal-fires 
(especially that from anthracite coal in America, 

1 The late W. W. Story, the sculptor and man of letters. 



RESTORING PICTURES 215 

which even eats away the lime in chimneys), as well 
as the deleterious effects of gas, vapours from food, 
and, finally, the want of air and light in ever-cur- 
tained and shaded rooms. 

The causes, in fact, which lead to deterioration in 
pictures are almost as many as those which produce 
diseases in man, and in not a few instances they will 
be found to be the same. These are, as I have said, 
foul air or malaria, or want of fresh air, dampness, 
the smoke of candles in churches, too long exposure 
to sunshine, the exhalations of charcoal, sulphur, 
sinks, &c; " in short, all penetrating scents are in- 
jurious to painting, especially if it be new." Owing 
to this prevalence of gas and coal smoke in houses, 
allied to the bad quality of paints, as now manufac- 
tured cheaply by machinery, it is, indeed, consid- 
ered doubtful whether any of the pictures painted 
during the reign of Queen Victoria will exist in " half- 
visible" condition fifty or a hundred years hence. 
There is, as regards them, a grand future for the re- 
storer. One need only look at most of Turner's 
earlier pictures to fully verify what is here asserted. 

The face of all old pictures long untouched will 
always be found covered more or less with what is 
simply dirt ; that is, dust more or less dissolved by 
moisture. Now, dust consists simply of all kinds of 
substances, even invisible extinct animal organisms 
in vast numbers. The first step is simply to wash 
away this dirt with distilled or rain water and ox- 
gall. Use a very soft, clean sponge, and pass it over 
the picture many times. The last time wrap the 
sponge in a clean, white linen or muslin handkerchief 
to see v/hether the surface is quite clean. This and 



2i6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

nothing more will often produce an astonishing im- 
provement. 

The next task will be to remove the varnish. Hot 
water attacks any varnish, reducing it to a dry pow- 
der ; but, as M. Goupil remarks, this is tres hasarde, 
or is very risky, because it may also attack and dis- 
solve anything like gum or glue in the colours. M. 
Goupil, however, sanctions the use of cold water in 
cleaning even to mere abuse, in which he is in con- 
tradiction to Henry Mogford, whose work I regard 
as by far the best with which I am acquainted on the 
subject of cleaning and restoring pictures which I 
have read. 1 On this subject he says : — 

" During all operations of lining, and of picture- 
cleaning generally, saturation by water is attended 
with disastrous effects, and the use of it should there- 
fore be limited to application by means of a squeezed 
piece of sponge, or, what is better, a piece of buff 
leather, soaked and wrung out. Water is a most 
dangerous enemy to pictures ; it penetrates to the 
priming or ground, loosens them by promoting de- 
composition of the size with which they are worked, 
and thus lays the foundation for their eventual dis- 
integration and decay. Imbibed damp will sooner 
or later cause the destruction of every woven mate- 
rial, and while our daily experience shows its lamenta- 
ble effects on the walls of our dwellings, it will be 
well for us to remember that it is no less destructive 
to the canvas of our pictures, and to the materials 
which form its priming. 

" All the pictures of the early masters of the Italian 
school, and those of Claude and William Vander- 

1 " Handbook on the Preservation of Pictures/' by Henry 
Mogford ; twelfth edition, revised. London : Winsor & New- 
ton, is. 



RESTORING PICTURES 217 

velde, which are painted on chalk and absorbent 
grounds, are in the greatest danger if washed with 
water. It penetrates through the small crevices which 
may exist in the paint, and often totally destroys the 
picture. If the painting be upon canvas, like those 
of the two latter-named masters, it breaks into a 
thousand small lines or cracks ; and if upon panel, 
like the pictures of Raffaelle, Andrea del Sarto, or 
Fra Bartolomeo, it breaks up the paint by scaling it 
off in small points of the size of a pin's head. If the 
picture, again, is of the Spanish school, and is painted 
upon the red absorbent grounds and upon a rough 
canvas, water not only breaks the unity of its surface, 
but from the canvas being of a coarser texture than 
the pictures of Claude or William Vandervelde, it 
often penetrates in a greater proportion, and fre- 
quently scales off pieces as large as a sixpence, espe- 
cially in the dark shadows, or where the ground has 
not been sufficiently protected by a thick impasto 
(heavy coat or ground) of colour. At all times and 
to all pictures water is more or less dangerous, unless 
used with the greatest caution, and then it should 
only be applied by means of a piece of thick buckskin 
leather well wrung out, and left just wet enough to 
slip lightly over the surface of the picture. In the 
case of some masters, as with those we have special- 
ised above, the free use of water may be regarded as 
next door to absolute destruction ; and the warmer 
and drier the weather the more active and ruinous 
the operation. Instances have occurred in which an 
Andrea del Sarto, a Claude and a William Vandei- 
velde, were destroyed in a few minutes by the in- 
judicious use of simple water." 

I have given this quotation in full, because water 
is generally the first thing freely resorted to to clean 
pictures by the ignorant. Thus I have heard of very 
valuable pictures being actually given to common ser- 
vants or the washerwoman to scour clean, which was 



218 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

effected with soap and hot water and sand, to the 
speedy ruin of the woik. Nor is it any great wonder 
that this should be done, when we find in Goupil's 
work that, while he admits that cold water " infil- 
trates itself partially to the fissures of a painting and 
does great harm," he declares that " hot water acts 
differently," giving the impression that it may be 
very freely used, and declaring that " clean cold 
water harmlessly dissolves grease and dirt resulting 
from dust deposited by the air." This is true, but 
he does not seem, like Mr. Mogford, to have fully 
understood the other side of the question. {Manuel 
General et Complet de la Peinture a V Huile y par F. 
Goupil.) 

For first cleaning away impurities from a surface 
Mogford recommends ox-gall to be applied with a 
soft brush. This may be obtained in shilling or six- 
penny bottles from Winsor & Newton, or any other 
dealers in artists' materials. "It is," he adds, " an 
excellent detergent, which may be freely applied 
without fear. It must, however, be well washed" 
(i.e., wiped) " off with pure water, or it will leave a 
clamminess on the surface that may prevent the var- 
nish, afterwards applied, from drying." But a dis- 
tinction must be carefully borne in mind between 
washing with water and letting it soak into a picture 
and simply wiping off the surface with a damp 
chamois or buckskin or soft old linen handkerchief. 
In fact, this latter is the first thing to be done before 
slightly cleaning the surface with the diluted ox-gall. 
It is very necessary that the skilled cleaner shall un- 
derstand exactly the nature of varnishes, so as to 
know on what he is to work. Thus, according to 



RESTORING PICTURES 219 

the picture, he may employ " liquor potassae, oilof 
tartar, spirits of wine, pure alcohol, liquor ammoniae 
fortis, naphtha, ether, soda, and oil of spike or lav- 
ender. The very nomenclature of these powerful 
agents will at once show the great risk of their being 
injudiciously or carelessly employed." 

Great care should be taken not to allow an exces- 
sive or unequal quantity of cleaning fluid to gather in 
one place. Therefore all pictures should be laid flat 
while being restored, as streams, for instance of am- 
monia, would cut very irregularly into a surface. 
With pictures of any value, the process of cleaning is 
always very delicate, requiring much practice and 
very perfect knowledge of all the principles of the art. 

Where the varnishes are tender and thin, such as 
mastic, Mogford advises the use of spirits of wine ; 
but to be sure that no harm can be done by it, it is 
desirable that "the spirit, which is usually sold at 
58° of strength, should be diluted by a fourth part of 
water, or by the same proportion of rectified spirits 
of turpentine, or it may be used with an addition of 
a sixth part of linseed oil, added to the diluted or 
pure spirit." In every instance the mixture is to be 
" well shaken before taken," or applied. Care should 
be taken to prevent oil from softening the paint, 
which it is apt to do. As a rule it is best to begin 
with the lightest or brightest portions of a picture — 
as, for instance, the face of a portrait — as these parts 
are always the hardest. Beginning by wiping the 
surface with white cotton wool and turpentine, ob- 
serve if any varnish comes off on it, and as soon as it 
is seen change the part of the rubber used, else you 
will go on simply taking up " dirt" from one place 



22o A MANUAL OF MENDING 



and rubbing it into another. This is elsewhere ex- 
plained as regaids cleaning cloth or absorbing ink, 
that we must continually subtract from and not add 
again to the ground. 

" Turpentine is a counteracting medium, which in- 
stantly arrests the action of the solvent spirit." 
When all the varnish has thus been removed, the 
whole may be wiped over with spirits of turpentine, 
and then when dry revarnished, if nothing more be 
required. 

Rubbing with the fingers, or powders, or any kind 
of dry cleaning must be avoided, or else practised 
with great care, since it produces an effect known as 
wooiliness, which will begin to show very decidedly 
after some time. But when a picture has had no 
varnish it can only be cleaned mechanically, as by 
using tripoli, pumice-stone, or whiting. This method 
requires great skill. Sometimes a very fine-edged 
scraper or knife is used to thin the varnish before 
using turpentine. 

" Solvents," adds Mogford, " are only necessary 
to remove varnish." Unvarnished pictures are best 
cleaned by carefully wiping with buff or chamois 
leather, damp, not wet, aided by a little powdered 
whiting. 

Varnish, when not on a picture, may, however, be 
removed by rubbing it with the fingers, or palm, or 
leather, aided by powdered resin, or rosin. For cer- 
tain purposes, as to make a panel of a piano thor- 
oughly seasoned for heat, and, as it were, enamel it, 
a coat of varnish is applied, and when dry is rubbed 
down smooth with pumice-powder or resin, and this 
process is repeated many times. 



RESTORING PICTURES 221 

If pictures are painted in oil, directly on canvas, 
without a ground, the paint sinks down in between 
the threads and lies thinly on them. Therefore if 
there is rubbing on the surface the grain of the can- 
vas becomes very apparent. If oil-paint be laid 
directly on a panel of wood, the soft parts between 
the hard fibres, lines, or grain shrink away, drawing 
the paint with them. Old artists avoided this by lay- 
ing on a strong ground of gesso or plaster of Paris 
mixed with glue or white of eggs. 

The great task in cleaning is to remove the repaint- 
ing or coats of paint which have been added by re- 
storers. I have seen this done with extraordinary 
skill by the late Mr. Merritt, who was recommended 
by Ruskin, and who was the first and most truly 
artistic restorer of his time. I can recall his cleaning 
the most beautiful Carpoccio which I ever saw, and a 
magnificent Velasquez, both of which had been re- 
painted again and again, and were in such wretched 
condition that even the painter of the latter bad been 
mistaken. They bore about the same relation when 
untouched and afterwards that a dirty old rag has to 
a magnificent cashmere shawl. " Caustic, soap- 
makers' lye, liquor potassae, pure alcohol, and the 
scraper," remarks Mogford, " are the ordinary means 
to take off lepaints ; all of them dangerous appliances 
if not closely watched and used without violence or 
carelessness." 

It is advisable to examine carefully the backs of 
old pictures for signatures, date, or documents, all of 
which are sometimes pasted over with other paper or 
canvas. Once, in Florence, I found in a small shop 
a portrait of Charles I., but differing in many respects 



222 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

from any which I had ever seen. I told the owner 
that it was by Vandyke, but he insisted on it that it 
was by an Italian with some such name as Guillermo 
or Gillonio, till I pioposed that we should examine 
the back, where we found, after some investigation, 
the name of Vandyke. At which discovery the dealer 
promptly raised the price of the picture from one 
hundred to one thousand francs, and it was, indeed, 
cheap enough at that, A lady to whom I narrated 
the occurrence said, " Oh, why didn't you buy the 
picture before you told the man who painted it?" 
To which I replied, " For the same reason that I did 
not steal a valuable ring out of the case in the shop 
when his back was turned." Much is said about the 
shrewdness of dealers in antiques, but it has often 
happened to me to explain to them that articles in 
their possession were worth far more than they im- 
agined ; while, on the other hand, they will, surmis- 
ing that a thing may be worth a great deal, charge a 
fearful sum for something that is meiely cinque ccuto ; 
e.g., a thousand francs for what is really dear at ten. 
I mention this in order that the reader may realise 
(which few do) what bargains may be picked up by 
any one who knows anything of art, and especially 
of the humble art of cleaning, mending, or restoring, 
which lets us into a world of secrets even in high art, 
and which is of more use to a picture-buyer than all 
the high-flown aesthetic crrlture in all the works of all 
the rhapsodists of the age. 

The preceding remarks on cleaning were drawn 
chiefly from the manual by H. Mogford, and my 
own experiences. I add to them those of M. Goupil 
on the same subject. The intelligent reader will find 



RESTORING PICTURES 223 

no difficulty in collecting and drawing his own infer- 
ences from both : — 

" When the picture is certainly in oil, steam may 
be used to remove the varnish. There is, however, 
the great risk of loosening the painting from its 
ground." 

But when a picture has been, instead of varnished, 
glazed with white of egg y we have a coating which, 
when old, cannot be dissolved by water or acids ; for 
this other and specially elaborate detergents, or 
cleaners, are employed. There are few substances 
which so persistently harden with time as the white 
of egg, as does also the yolk when boiled. 

Ordinary varnish, when dry and old, can be re- 
moved by mechanically scraping or rubbing with 
fine, dry powders, such as that of resin. The dust 
from the varnish itself aids in the operation. This 
process is slow and tiresome, but it is very often ad- 
visable to begin with it, after washing, as it does not 
injure the colours. It is needless to say that it re- 
quires great skill, care, and experience not to " cut 
into the colour." 

It may be remarked, as regards this, that in all 
cases where there is a difference of opinion between 
the French and English artist — as in the use of water 
— we must remember that both are, or may be, in 
the right as regards certain kinds of pictures. So 
varied are the methods of painters that it seems to 
me to be by far wiser to describe different methods 
than to attempt the impossible task of giving infalli- 
ble rules. 

" Varnish can be removed by means of spirits. To 
effect this, lay the picture on a table, and wet a small 



224 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

poition of it with spirits of wine. After a minute or 
more, wash the place with clean water and a sponge. 
Thus, little by little, clean the entire surface, taking 
care not to injure the paint, When quite dry, apply 
new varnish/' 

Practised restorers, who can tell by examination 
and knowledge of the methods employed by painters 
what they can venture on, often use detergents which 
would ruin the picture if applied by a person without 
experience. These are alkaline salts, such as wood- 
ashes or lye, pearl and pot ashes, or salts of tartar, 
all of which, except the latter, are extremely hazard- 
ous for a tyro. Salts of tartar may be safely em- 
ployed if we begin with a feeble solution, which may 
be gradually strengthened. 

Wood-ashes, very finely sifted, are spread on the 
face of the picture, and delicately, or carefully and 
lightly, rubbed with a soft sponge. This must be 
carefully washed away as soon as the surface is 
cleaned. 

Other detergents failing, borax dissolved in water 
may be employed. This works slowly but surely ; 
but, as M. Goupil remarks, this lessive, like wood 
ashes, must not be left long on the colours, but be 
promptly wiped away with a sponge. Lime-water 
will serve as well as the solution of borax. 

Soaps of different qualities are also used for clean- 
ing, according to the state of the picture. It may be 
here again remarked that no exact rule can be given 
regarding an art specially founded on skill and ex- 
perience. The beginner should first try his hand on 
a few common old pictures. 

Soap made into a foam or lather with water will 



RESTORING PICTURES 225 

generally clean a surface, however dark it may be 
from smoke. Let the foam settle completely, and 
then wipe it clean with a damp sponge. 

Essential oils, especially turpentine, or those of 
spikenard, lavender, and rosemary — of either two 
parts of spirits of wine to one of turpentine, &c— are 
commonly used to clean pictures. 

Pictures not varnished require great care and skill 
in cleaning. For these yeast with water, or flour 
mixed with lime-water, is employed ; also spirits of 
wine or vinegar. Ammonia is also used. Goupil 
mentions that one of the most dangerous mediums 
for this purpose is the old one of urine, and that it 
should never be used. 

When the canvas of a picture is very old and rotten, 
it may be replaced by a process requiring the utmost 
nicety. If only certain portions are injured, it will 
suffice to glue pieces of fine canvas on the back. 

To completely transfer the painting, gum over its 
surface two coats of soft paper. Lay it on the face, 
and carefully remove the old canvas ground. This 
is effected by wetting every thread till soft, and then 
picking it away. A piece of pumice-stone and tweezers 
axe also used. When all fibres are removed, carefully 
glue a canvas and apply it, pressing it well on the 
back of the paint. Before it is quite dry, press the 
picture with a warm flat-iron, not too hot. Then re- 
move the paper carefully with a damp sponge and by 
tearing. 

To transfer a picture on wood, the back is sawn 
into many small triangles or squares, which are care- 
fully chiselled away one by one. Then with files and 
scrapers approach the paint till only a thin film of 



2 2 6 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

wood remains. The last remnant is wetted with a 
sponge, and picked or scraped away. First, use 
paper on the face and restoie as before. 

There is a great enemy to pictures in mould or 
mildew, which has quasi-equivalents in must, dry-iot, 
mucor, or robigo. It is divided by Goupil into appa- 
rent softening and actual softening or mildew. The 
former is mildew or mere superficial mould ; i.e., a 
light vegetation which gathers on the surface from 
germs in the air. It can easily be wiped away, and 
is caused by dampness. Sometimes, when long 
rooted, it destroys the varnish, which must be re- 
placed. There is also a mould which is properly de- 
cay, or a radical destruction of fabric, for which there 
is, in fact, no cure, save in renewing the canvas and 
retouching the picture. 

Where a picture is painted by glazing, especially 
where varnish comes in instead of body, it is apt to 
crack or thread like a cobweb. In time these divi- 
sions will scale off in flakes. Wax dissolved in tur- 
pentine is used for the light cracks. Scaling must 
be treated by careful softening with oil and pressing 
down a warm iion. The surface must, previous to 
ironing, be covered with chalked paper. 

It sometimes happens that a picture has been paint- 
ed over, and I have seen a very distinguished restorer 
in such case succeed in removing the outer coat. 
This requires great knowledge of the chemical prop- 
erties of the paint ; also of solvents, and the different 
methods of scraping, absorbing, &c. StilL it can be 
learned with patience. Extraordinary results have 
been thus obtained. It has often happened that men 
with little or no knowledge of painting have fancied 



RESTORING PICTURES 227 

themselves capable of " repairing" very valuable pic- 
tures, and so smeared them over to utter ruin. 

Before attempting to retouch an old picture, let the 
restorer make a copy of it. If he can do this very 
well he is qualified for his work, and not otherwise. 
The fraternity of picture-cleaners and menders may 
protest against this ; but the vast amount — I may say 
the vast pioportion, meaning the majority — of good 
pictures spoiled by bad retouching confirms the truth 
of my assertion. 

It is worth remarking in this connection that very 
few amateurs, aesthetes, or " connoisseurs," so called, 
appreciate the value of mere technique or practical 
work in art. They " swarm for the ideal," and that 
is all. The great masters were wiser than this. It 
would do much good if very generous prizes on a 
large scale were to be paid annually for copies of 
great pictures. And I would have rewards given 
specially for pictures painted with colours prepared 
by the artists themselves from chemically pure and 
unalterable materials, according to the ancient recipes. 
I would like to see a society formed of artists who 
would produce such work. It would certainly find 
buyers — in time. 

There are to be found in most curiosity shops in 
Italy panel pictures of the fourteenth century, earlier 
or later, with gold grounds, which can be had of all 
prices, from a very few francs upward. They are 
without name and of no great artistic merit, but very 
curious and interesting indeed as ancient relics painted 
" before oil," and as inspired with the spirit of the 
Middle Ages. These generally require restoration. 
They were painted on wood of all kinds, very often 



228 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

on deal. The suiface was covered with a thin coat 
of gesso or plaster of Paris, mixed with the white of 
egg, and on this the gilding and paint were applied. 
The latter was in white of egg and fig-juice, or en- 
caustic — that is, wax and white of egg, which is the 
most ancient and durable method known ; so much 
so that long after every oil-painting ever executed 
(if left to itself) will have disappeared, the ancient 
Egyptian, Roman, or Middle Ages pictures will be as 
fresh as if made yesterday. 

If a panel be warped or bent, it is straightened by 
damping the concave side, and screwing to it cross- 
pieces. If the ground be scaled away, supply it with 
powdered plaster of Paris mixed with gum-water. 
The tepainting can be executed with water-colours 
mixed with white of egg, gouache, or even oil in small 
quantities, which should be rather rubbed in or glazed 
than painted in body. 

A common panel picture of the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth century, painted with white of egg, can be 
well enough restored with water-colour, or gouache, 
and then varnished. But the colour with gouache 
medium will not hold well, except on the gesso- 
ground. It is apt to scale off from any smooth, hard 
surface. Therefore it is difficult to restore them by 
painting on the old hard glaze. Most of the mediums 
which are sold to heighten water-colouis — e.g., Win- 
sor & Newton's glass medium — will cause the colour 
to adhere. 

A GROUND FOR WAX-PAINTING ON POROUS SUBSTANCES 

was made as follows : — 

White wax . . . . .10 

Resin . . . . . .5 

Essence of turpentine . . .40 



RESTORING PICTURES 229 

Melt the wax in a bain-marie, pass the solution 
through a linen stiainer, and lay it on in successive 
coats on a wall which is first heated by a hand-fur- 
nace or brazier. To close holes in the wall use a 
putty made of wax, gum-anime, resin, and whiting. 

Colours are prepared for wax-painting by grinding 
them with a gluten. They are the same in substance 
as those mixed with oil for oil-painting. The gluten 
is made as follows : — 

Resin . . . . . . 1 

White wax 4 

Essence of spikenard . . .16 

A harder gluten can be made by substituting copal 
for the gum-anime. 

There is a vast field for profitable labour in the 
cleaning and restoration of old pictures, as well as of 
antiques of all kinds, and thousands of young or even 
elder artists, whose life is a painful struggle towards 
becoming known, would do well to endeavour to raise 
the art of restoration to its proper place, instead of 
being ashamed to descend to it. 

The restorer should make a point of studying var- 
nishes, oils, and colours, with great care. Let him read 
what cyclopaedia articles and books he can find on 
these subjects, and make all practical inquiries from 
manufacturers and dealers. He should, if he intends 
to seriously practise the art, study chemistry. I can 
imagine no better restorer than a skilful analyst. 
There is a great deal yet to be learned regarding col- 
ours, and most of it will come by the way of chem- 
istry. A great deal is, however, actually being re- 
vived or arriving as new from training " the popular 
eye" to hitherto unaccustomed shades, tints, and 



2 3 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

tones. During the Middle Ages, when culture was 
exhausted in art and decoration, there was a marvel- 
lous development in this respect, even in most deli- 
cate details, though much of it now seems so " loud" 
or excessive to us. We have of late years learned a 
great deal from China and Japan as regards subdued 
colours. It may be that as in Oriental music even 
the tenth part of a note becomes as distinct to the 
practised ear as a natural one, so these blendings and 
subdivisions of hues may be as perceptible to people 
as the normal colours. All of this should be caie- 
fully studied by the restorer as well as the painter. 

The restoration of a fine work of art which has be- 
come utterly dim, wrinkled with a thousand lines, 
and, it may be, utterly ugly to beauty and freshness, 
is so much like a resurrection or transfiguration to 
new life, youth, and beauty, that poets have not failed 
to use it as a simile for all that is expressive of renais- 
sance. Thus Dean Hole, in his Memoirs, remarks 
that, " as when some beautiful picture which has 
been concealed and forgotten, removed in time of 
battle lest it should be destroyed by the enemy, is 
found after many yeais, and is carefully cleaned and 
skilfully restored, and the eye is delighted with the 
successive development of colour and of form, and 
the life-like countenance, the historical scene, the 
sunny landscape, or the moonlit sea come out once 
moie upon the canvas ; so in that great revival of re- 
ligion which began in England more than half a cen- 
tury ago the glorious truths of the Gospel weie re- 
stored.'' Regarded in itself, the art of restoring 
beauty is both beautiful and noble, and deserves to 
be regarded as such. 



GENERAL RECIPES 

Recipe. — The word. A formula or prescription 
is a recipe, derived from the Latin word recipe, 
meaning take. An acknowledgment of money 
paid is a receipt, from receptus, or received. A 
descriptio7i of the materials to be used in making 
a pie is not a receipt, but a recipe." — Familiar 
Errors. 

To clean Woollen Cloth. — Rub it with sal-ammo- 
niac and water till clean, then wash with pure water. 
This liquid is very useful, when any article of cloth- 
ing has been stained by vinegar, wine, or lemon, to 
restore the original colour. 

An old-fashioned but excellent method of cleaning 
greased silk ribbons or cloth is as follows : — Lay the 
ribbon on a wad or flat surface of cotton wadding, 
strew on this dried clay, or calcined magnesia, or 
whiting, and over this another layer of wadding. 
Pass over it a flat-iron not too warm. The oil or 
grease will be absorbed into the cotton. Repeat this 
till the cure is effected. If any spots still remain, 
paint them with yolk of egg, dry the stuff in a draught 
of air, and when quite hardened remove the yoke and 
wash with water. 

Wine-stains can be removed by simply pressing on 
them pads dampened with cold water. This method 



232 A MANUAL OF MENDING 






will succeed, when wiping only spreads a stain. Salt 
alone is also employed. 

" When a lady's skirt of any material has had spilt 
on it gravy, wine, oil, or any light liquid, as distin- 
guished from such substances as paint, pitch, or tar, 
do not attempt, as is usually the case, to wipe or 
wash it clean. Lay a linen sheet or even spongy 
white paper — wanting this, newspapers may be used 
— on a table ; on this spread the soiled fabiic very 
evenly. Then lay on the upper surface another clean 
white sheet, or white muslin cloth, or napkins or 
towels, and press on it till as much as possible of the 
fluid is sucked out. By changing the white cloths or 
paper, and pressing continually, the fabric can be 
very nearly cleaned. Then dust it well with calcined 
magnesia in powder or whiting. Where these cannot 
be had chalk will answer. This will generally absorb 
all that remains of the grease." — Notes by a House- 
keeper {MS.). 

" Clean, dry blotting-paper laid on grease-stains is 
admirable for extraction. Apply pressure with a flat- 
iron or hand-roller such as is used for bread. There 
are blotting-paper rollers, made for ink, which are 
quite suitable for cleaning cloth ; but the paper should 
be thrown away the instant it has received any grease ; 
otherwise it will only spread the stain and make it in- 
delible by rubbing it into the fibre of the threads. A 
good soft sponge will also be found to be almost equal 
to it." — Notes by a Housekeeper {MS.). 

Old woollen or silk garments can be very bril- 
liantly renewed in the following manner : — They are 
steeped in sulphuric cupreous acid (copper or blue 
vitriol), oxide of lead, or bismuth oxide, or simply 



GENERAL RECIPES 233 

with their metallic oxides, and then exposed to steam, 
mingled with sulphuric acid gas. Another method is 
to steep the stuffs simply in a solution of sulphuric 
acid and copper or of oxide of bismuth. This is 
slowly heated, but the heating must be qualified ac- 
cording to the colour of the stuffs to be revived. The 
application of these requires great care and some 
knowledge or experience. 

Ink for restoring inscriptions on metal of any kind, 
silver, zinc, or brass : — To one part of crystallised 
acetic acid, oxide of copper, one of ammonia, and 
half a part of soot fiom fir wood. Mix in a saucer 
with ten parts of water. This is said to resist expos- 
ure to the weather very well. 

A VERY VALUABLE AID TO THE RESTORER OR MENDER 

of implements, when it can be obtained, is Raw 
Hide. This material dries as hard as any wood and 
is tougher than any textile fabric. Thus, if a broken 
wheel or any portion of a vehicle is tied with a thong 
of raw hide, firmly drawn, when the latter dries, 
shrinking a little, it holds better than iron. Raw or 
untanned ox-hide or similar skin, when dried, is in 
fact similar to parchment, and, like it, resembles horn 
in hardness. The strongest tiunks in the world are 
made in America from raw hide. This material, 
when made into small objects, such as flasks, boxes, 
sheaths, or portable ink-stands, has often withstood 
the wear of generations. As it is cheap, easily 
moulded into form, or stamped, it is remarkable that 
it is no longer used as it once was. 

Lead-pencil or crayon drawings can be preserved 
fiom rubbing by a light wash of gum of any kind, 
diluted varnish, or even milk. The latter is in most 



234 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

cases preferable. It is also preservative of handwrit- 
ing, and, like all glazes, prevents fading. 

Bases for beads and similar woik can be made as 
follows : — Take mother-of-peail dust, which can be 
bought cheaply at a turner's, povvdei 01 levigate it 
finely, mix it with half its bulk of fine white barley- 
meal, and make it up with a weak solution of gum- 
mastic. Also take snail-shells, 01 the glaze of any 
large, hard sea-shells, washing them fust in stiong 
lye to clean them. Pulverise and make up with yolk 
of eggs and alum, or any other fine binder. The 
same can be done with rock-crystal or pure flint. 
Grind it to finest powder, and make it up with a well- 
incorporated mixture of the white of eggs and pure 
gum-arabic. This will, when dry, become hard as a 
stone, and more and more waterproof with age. 

To pulverise Glass. — First put in the fire till red- 
hot, then drop it into cold water, after which reduce 
it in a mortar. Glass-powder thus made, mixed with 
almost any cement, renders it extremely hard. It is 
also mixed with paint. 

Burnished steel or iron-work can be preserved 
from rusting by rubbing the article with oil of cloves 
or oil of lavender ; also with a mixture of turpentine, 
oil of lavender or cloves, and petroleum. Meicurial 
ointment is commonly used foi guns. 

Rust can be removed from iron by rubbing it with 
oil of tartar {oleum tartari), using a woollen lag. 

Brass-ware, when it has become dull or rusty, may 
be renewed and made to look like gold. Take sal- 
ammoniac, giind it in a mortar with saliva ; rub this 
on the brass ; lay it on hot coals to dry it well, and 
mb it with a woollen cloth. So says Johann Wall- 



GENERAL RECIPES 235 

berger ; adding : " With this ait a ceitain man did 
once, in Rome, gain much money, inasmuch as he 
thereby did clean the brass lamps of the churches and 
other things of the same metal." There is another 
prepaiation for the same purpose still more gold-like. 
It consists of sulphur, chalk, and the soot from wood 
fires. But as it soon disappears, the brass should be 
lackered or varnished. 

The best cleaner for brass with which I am ac- 
quainted is a Geiman preparation used by Barkentin 
& Krall, Regent Street, from whom it can also be 
obtained. 

A very strong cement, and one good for luting, 
can be made by combining sturgeon's bladder, dis- 
solved in spirits, with finest pulverised flint or sand. 

Glue, into which resin has been well infused by 
heat, combined with sand or ashes or clay, forms a 
strong cement, useful for all kinds of coarse work. 

A very good, strong cement is made as follows : 
— To three-eighths of a pound of water add three- 
eighths of a pound of spirits and a quarter of a pound 
of starch ; also, prepare two ounces of good glue in 
water, mixed with two ounces of thick turpentine, 
and stir well into the first composition. This is a 
very good bookbinders' glue. 

The tufa or soft stone which abounds in Italy 
and elsewhere is much used when reduced to powder 
and burned for building. It is also useful as a 
cement. An old writer says it can be brayed in a 
mortar, but that " there are many who, for lack of a 
mortar, take old baptismal fonts out of the churches, 
and in lieu of a pestle use the clapper of a church 
bell." 



236 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

A curious decoration may be made by di awing 
figures — for example, of animals — with glue or gum 
on a wall surface, and then powdering it with cloth- 
dust of appropriate colours. These figures can be 
stencilled. 

As of all repairing and restoring that of human 
beauty is the most important, it may be worth while 
to give here a few recipes, which have held their own 
for centuries : — 

To make Wrinkles and Freckles disappear. — 
This is more possible than is generally supposed, and 
I have known a lady, a great beauty, of whom all my 
readers have heard, who at fifty years of age had 
artificially and miraculously preserved her face in 
perfect smoothness, though I do not know by what 
means. The following is given by Wallberger : — 
" Take fine, pure alum, compound it carefully with 
the fresh white of eggs, and boil it gently in a pipkin, 
stirring it constantly with a wooden stick or spoon 
till it forms a soft paste. Spread this on the face, 
morning and evening, for two or three days, and you 
will soon see that it is free from wrinkles and freckles, 
and marvellously fair and pleasant to view. Frivol- 
ous souls may carry the sinful misuse of such beauty 
to their own account ; the virtuous hold in horror all 
such deeds" (Zauberbuch, 1760). 

Lemon-juice or the salts of lemon, or lemon-juice 
and salt, are of great service in whitening the hands 
and causing freckles to disappear. 

Gum-benzoin dissolved in spirits may be had of 
every apothecary. Pour a few drops into a wine- 
glassful of warm water, and it will form a milk white 
emulsion, which is a perfect and harmless cosmetic 



GENERAL RECIPES 237 

for the face, and serves as a delightful soap in wash- 
ing. This is the lac virginis so much used two cen- 
turies ago. 

Eau de Cologne mixed with water forms a white 
emulsion, which is much superior to any soap for 
delicate hands. It forms a perfectly harmless cos- 
metic for the face. Even a few drops of it in a basin 
of water will have a good result. Too much of it, or 
of any wash, will have a contrary effect, and dry the 
skin. If the mouth be rinsed with this emulsion of 
eau de cologne and water, it will purify the breath, and 
that for a long time if used as a gargle. 

A strong marking-ink, or black dye, which will 
resist much exposure to the weather, is made as fol- 
lows : — Take gum-arabic 10 lbs., logwood liquor 
(specific giavity 1.37) 20 fluid oz., bi-chromate of pot- 
ash 2^ oz., with water sufficient to dissolve the bi- 
chromate. Dissolve the gum in one gallon of water, 
strain, add the logwood liquor, mix, and let the mix- 
ture stand for twenty-four houis ; then stir in rapidly 
the bi-chromate solution, and add a little nitrate of 
iron and fustic acid. If too thick, thin with luke- 
warm water. 

A very hard cement can be made by digesting 
fluor spar for some time in sulphuric acid, adding 
magnesium sulphate and stirring calcined magnesia 
into the mixture. 

A red cement for iron or stone or luting is 
made of red lead and litharge in equal parts mixed 
with concentrated glycerine to the consistency of soft 
putty. When dry it is water and fire proof. 

Silico enamel is a thin liquid glaze, finer than var- 
nish, which is easily applied to all polished metals, as 



238 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

well as other substances. It may be obtained in bot- 
tles, price one shilling, with brush, of the Silico 
Enamel Company, 97 Hampstead Road, London, N. W. 

Light-coloured gloves may be cleaned by rolling 
bread-crumb over them ; also with indiarubber. Also 
by means of benzine. Several patent washes for this 
purpose are now sold. 

Cleaning Marble. — " If ' Sculptor ' will get some 
salts of wormwood, and dissolve in warm water, then 
mix with whiting into a moderate paste, and apply 
to stone or marble, and let it remain upon either for 
twenty-four hours — and if not successful the first 
time, apply again — he will draw all stains out of 
marble, and clear all lichen either from sandstones or 
oolitic stones. Thoroughly wash the stone with a 
strong soap (say, of Hudson's No. 2 soap powder) 
and lukewarm water, and, when thoroughly dry, give 
a coat of sulphuietted oil. He can make his own oil. 
Boil in a bath one quait of linseed-oil for one hour, 
with half-a-pound of flower of suphur, gently and 
continually stirring same ; then take off fire and let 
cool ; then pour oil from sediment, using oil upon 
stone. No lichen will hurt his stone if out exposed 
to the air, for the rain will wash all clean every time. 
I have cleaned several statues with nothing but Hud- 
son's No. 2 and water." — Work, April 2, 1892. 

Calcined magnesia, or calcined and powdered 
bone, laid for some time on simply oiled or greased 
marble, which has first been well washed with soap 
and water, will often extract the stain. For ink use 
oxalic acid in weak solution w T ith water. 

Gum-dextrine, or gum substitute, is made from 



GENERAL RECIPES 239 

roasted flour. It forms, mixed with water, a gum 
not much inferior to gum-arabic, for which it is, as 
the name denotes, a substitute. It is very extensively 
used in many manufactures, and may be obtained of 
any chemist. It sometimes happens that it is too 
brittle after drying, and does not hold. In such case 
add four or five drops of glycerine to a teacupful of 
the dextrine in solution. 

Mouth Glue (Mundleim) or Solid Cement. — This 
is sold by stationers in thin, flat sticks or tablets, and 
is used by wetting and rubbing it, chiefly for paper. 
It is made as follows for labels : — 

Sturgeon's bladder . . . .25 

Sugar . . . . . .12 

Water . --■ . . . . .36 

Carbolic acid . . 

The sturgeon's bladder is first dissolved, the sugar 
then added, also a few drops of carbolic acid, which 
causes it to set more firmly, and also to resist mould 
in dampness, induced by the presence of sugar. This 
cement is applicable to glass, wood, or metal. Like 
the following, it has the advantage of being always 
ready to use, and requites no boiling. If it becomes 
too hard to use freely, let so much of it as is required 
steep for a time in water. Many think, from merely 
dampening it in the mouth when it is hard, and using 
it immediately, that it is a very weak adhesive, which 
is a mistake. A great deal of that sold by the sta- 
tioners is, however, of very inferior quality, and made 
with very common glue. 



2 4 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

Mouth glue in tablets : — 



Tiansparent glue, No. i . 

Sugar 

Gum-arabic . . . . 


. 24 
. 5 


Water 


• 5o 



The glue, sugar, and gum are boiled in the water 
until a drop let fall on a slab hardens. It is then 
rolled and cut into flat cakes. 

TO MEND OR MAKE MEERSCHAUM PlPES. Dissolve 

caseine in silicate of soda ; stir into the cement fine 
calcined magnesia. By the addition of meerschaum 
powder a close imitation of meerschaum in the mass 
can be made. 

Turkish cement of the strongest kind, and such as 
is used to attach gems to metal, is made as follows : — 

Sturgeon's bladder cement . . 30 
Mastic (best) . • . 2 

Gum-ammoniac 1 

Spirits of wine . . . . .10 

The sturgeon's bladder, shredded, is dissolved 
with spirits of wine while remaining in a warm place ; 
the gum is also dissolved in spirit and mixed with the 
sturgeon's bladder ; the whole must be then carefully 
and slowly boiled to a syrup. Close with a cork, as 
it is sure to gum tightly. 

To improve Corks. — When bottles contain sub- 
stances which adhere to the cork and harden, the latter 
should be first steeped in oil or vaseline, or boiled in 
a mixture of both. 

Armenian Cement. — This is much like Diamond 
and Turkish cements : — 



GENERAL RECIPES 241 

I. 

Sturgeon's bladder . . c 600 

II. 

Gum-ammoniac .... 6 
Mastic . . : . . .60 

The sturgeon's bladder is dissolved in spirits of 
wine separately, the gum-ammoniac and mastic also, 
but with a minimum of spirit ; the two are then com- 
bined. 

A cement which will resist the action of spirits of 
wine will often be veiy valuable, as when large lids 
are to be fastened to jais containing anatomical prep- 
arations. One is made as follows : — 

Cleaned manganese powder . . 20 
Soluble silicate of soda . . .10 

This must be freely used to make the cover adhere. 
When in time it shall become brittle, coat it over with 
a thick solution of asphaltum in turpentine or petro- 
leum. 

To seal bottles very securely, roughen the open- 
ing or mouth with a file or glass-paper, drive in a 
hard cork till half-an-inch below the top, and then 
seal it with silicate of soda mixed with marble-dust. 

Chloride of zinc added to silicate of soda and 
oxide of zinc forms a very good cement, which will 
resist most influences. 

Bread macerated with glue or gelatine, with a little 
glycerine, makes an admirable substance for artificial 
flowers, casts, medallions, &c. If worked with gum- 



242 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

arabic and a little alum, or dextrine, or common 
mucilage, we shall have the same result. It can also 
be worked with thin varnish or gutta-peicha cement ; 
also with diluted sulphuric or nitiic acids to pioduce 
a hard substance. It may here be observed that 
bread is for certain work far superior to flour or starch 
paste, since the combination with yeast causes a devel- 
opment of cellular tissue, the result of which is a 
firmer and more wax-like substance. I was led to 
observe this at first, not fiom what I lead of the action 
of acids on bread, but from observing the bread-flow- 
ers made by the Italian peasantry to adorn images of 
saints. I believe that in these there is a little vinegar 
mixed. They are quite wax-like. The bread used 
should be soft household bread, of course well knead- 
ed with the acid and colours. Bread-paste would 
probably combine well with indiarubber in solution. 

Of late, German illustrated newspapers have pub- 
lished patterns of small ornamental dishes made of 
dough or bread, intended to receive conserves of fruit 
and other edibles — the dishes themselves not being 
intended to be eaten. 

Soft bread with a little varnish or any ordinary 
gum and a little glycerine, well worked, makes an ad- 
mirable filler for cracks in wood. Combined with 
any gum, or even with tragacanth or peach or cherry 
gum, and lamp-black (or liquid Indian ink), it foims 
a cement which resembles ebony. The more thor- 
oughly it is macerated the harder it will be. Casts 
of panels, &c, made with this are really beautiful. 
Rub with oil and the hand after it is quite dry. Add 
a few drops of glycerine and alum in solution to pie- 
vent cracking, cr, better, a little indiarubber. Soft 



GENERAL RECIPES 243 

rye bread hardens to a rather tougher cement than 
wheat. Bread cement makes an admirable ground 
for gilding or painting. Bread macerated with lime 
and white of egg forms a very hard composition like 
ivory. Bread, glue, and glycerine, ditto. 

Horse-Chestnut Paste. — This is called a cement, 
but it is properly a paste like that of flour. Horse- 
chestnuts are generally neglected, but they can be 
profitably utilised for paste, which admits of the same 
combinations as flour. 

Waste tea-leaves from which the tea has been ex- 
tracted can be macerated with gum and treated as 
rose-leaves to form artificial ebony. Carefully sepa- 
rate all the hard portions. 

Gum for general use, like gum-arabic :— 

Common sugar, by weight . .12 

Water . . . . . 36 

Slacked lime . ... 3 

Stir the lime into the warm solution of sugar and 
water. Keep it boiling and stir it often for one hour. 
Pour off the liquid from the lees of the lime. This 
gum also admits of modifications. One of these is 
the well-known Syndetikon, w r hich is* made as fol- 
lows : — To fifteen parts of the sugar and lime solution 
add three of good glue, leaving them to soak for 
twenty-four hours ; warm gradually, and frequently 
stir, till the glue is dissolved. Then let it boil for a 
few minutes. This makes a good plain cement, 
which serves to unite paper, leather, glass, or por- 
celain. It, however, spots or changes colour in 
paper, &c. 



244 A MANUAL OF MENDING 






A general cement, which may be used for joining 
metal and glass, stone, tiles, &c, is thus made : — 



Plaster of Paiis 

Iron filings 

Water 

White of eggs . 



21 

3 

IO 

4 



The general mending cement so commonly sold 
consists of nothing but — 

Gum-arabic ..... i 
Plaster of Paris . . .3 

This must be mixed with water when used. It 
does not, however, resist the action of hot water. 

A cement which resists acids is made as follows : 
— -Indiarubber is dissolved in double its weight of 
linseed-oil, and kneaded to a dough with white bolus. 
Should the cement harden too quickly, add to it a 
little litharge. 

Indiarubber cement for chemical apparatus : — 

Indiarubber 8 

Tallow 2 

Linseed-oil 16 

White bolus ..... 3 

This does not resist high temperature, but is good 
against acids. 

Scheibler's cement for chemical apparatus : — 

Gutta-percha ..... 2 
Wax 1 

Shellac . . . . . . 3 

Sorel's Cement. — This consists of oxide of zinc 



GENERAL RECIPES 245 

combined with its chloride. The chloride of zinc is 
in a heavy, syrupy form, which, combined with the 
white oxide, sets very hard. It is chiefly used for 
filling teeth, but is also applicable to making medal- 
lions and other objects of art. For this latter purpose 
it is mixed with powdered chalk, pulverised glass, &c. 
The process of preparing and combining the ingredi- 
ents of this cement is, however, so tedious that it is 
most unlikely that the ordinary repairer will care to 
attempt it ; the more so as there are many prepara- 
tions far superior to it. 

Glue for tapestry, &c: — 

Flour-paste . . . . . 100 
Alum water . . . . .3 
Dextrine-paste .... 5 

This may also be applied in many ways. 

TO LUTE STILLS, &C. I 

Glue in powder . . . . 20 
Flour . . . . .10 
Bran 5 

To be well mixed with water. 

As alum cannot be affected by petroleum, it is used 
to fasten rings to petroleum-lamp holders. These 
are lined with alum which has been melted by heat. 
Alum melted forms a strong cement for glass and 
metal. 

Paste for Wall-Paper.— Ten parts of flour are 
made into common paste ; add one of glue boiled in 
hot water ; add to the whole one-twentieth part of 
white of egg. This holds very firmly. Paste made 
with flour and gum-arabic, &c, does not mould or 



246 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

turn sour if it be mixed with a few drops of oil of 
cloves or carbolic acid. 

Clay Mortar. — Where lime cannot be had, a very 
good mortar for chimneys may be made by mixing 
clay with common molasses. This is said (Lehner) 
to resist the action of heat w r hen well dried. 

Another fireproof cement is made as follows : — 

Clay ...... 40 

Flirrt-sand . . . . .40 

Slacked lime ..... 4 

Borax . . . . .2 

This is mixed with a very little water. It is used 
as a wash, and should, when dry, be heated by fire. 

Log cabins and houses built with wood are, in 
America, often swarming with vermin to a degree 
which would seem incredible. In all such cases the 
joints and cavities should be well packed and plas- 
tered with cement — lime if possible — and then white- 
washed. Rat-holes should be plugged with stones or 
gravel and then cemented. 

Zeiodeleth. — Vessels of wood, iron, stoneware, or 
of moulded cement, are often eaten away by the ac- 
tion of acids and alkalies. To prevent this they aie 
in Germany coated with a composition called Zeiode- 
leth. In its simplest form this is simply sulphur mixed 
with very finely sifted flint-sand, or else ground glass, 
chinaware, or stone. Of this thin plates are also 
made to coat such vessels, or even to form them. 

Merrick's Zeiodeleth : — 

Sulphur ..... 20 

Glass-powder . . . . .40 



GENERAL RECIPES 247 

Bottger's Zeiodeleth (Lehner) : — 

Powdered flint .... 90 

Graphite ..... 10 

Sulphur ..... 100 

I. 

A fluid paste is made by pouring into a porcelain 
jar 5 kilogrammes of potato-starch with 6 kilo- 
grammes of water and 250 grammes of white nitric 
acid. Keep the whole in a warm place for foity-eight 
hours, stirring it frequently, and then boil it till 
syrupy and transparent. Add a little water, or suffi- 
cient to make it fluid enough to be filtered through a 
closely woven towel. 

II. 

Dissolve 5 kilogrammes of gum-arabic to 1 of sugar 
in 5 quarts of water, adding 50 grammes of nitric 
acid ; warm to boiling, and then add No. I. The 
result is a perfectly fluid adhesive, which will not 
mould, and dries on paper with a glaze. It is adapted 
for postage-stamps, marking over impressions, and 
fine stationery. 

Durable Flour-Paste for Stationers. — Take 
good flour-paste, adding to it while boiling one-tenth 
part of clear liquid glue, to be well stirred in. Add 
a few drops of carbolic acid or oil of cloves. Keep it 
corked in wide-mouthed, large vials. 

Dry Cement, or Travellers' Glue : — 

Glue ..... 600 grms. 
Sugar . . . . . 250 ,, i 



248 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

The glue must be of the best quality, and perfectly 
melted in water, as usual, and the sugar stirred in. 
It is then steamed away until it becomes hard when 
cold. To use, place it in hot water, when it at once 
liquefies. This is specially used for paper. 

Coating to protect trees from insects : — 



Colophonium (resin) 
Common soap 
Tar 
Whale-oil 



ioo 
ioo 

25 



Smear the trunks of the trees with this. It may 
also be put on sheets of brown paper to catch flies. 

Cement for Filling. — Take fresh curd (caseine), 
and knead it with water to a putty. It can be used 
in this state for many purposes. To greatly harden 
it, add one-twentieth of its weight in lime, and more 
or less of some indifferent substance, such as chalk, 
calcined magnesia, oxide of zinc, and colouring mat- 
ter. This sets so hard that it may be used to make 
casts or many small works of art. 

French Glues. — Two very excellent glues used in 
France are the colle forte de Flandre and that of Givet. 
Goupil recommends as the best glue, where a very 
superior article is required, one made of equal parts 
of the two. Break them up, let the pieces remain 
fifteen hours in water, then boil for two hours in the 
bain-marie, or glue-kettle. After a time the glue will 
settle and become clear. Add, if needed, a little 
water from the bain-marie. 

To give a Satin Gloss to Paper. — Paint with a 
broad, soft brush on the paper with a solution of 



GENERAL RECIPES 249 

hypo-sulphite of barium (chemically expressed by 
BaS 2 O s ). It may be laid on by itself or mingled with 
a colour. It is used sometimes by bookbinders. 
This may be applied in water-colour pictures to the 
imitation of silk or satin. 

Gomme laque, or shellac, also gelatine glue, is sold 
in thin leaves. To prepare it, put into a bain-marie 
twenty parts of the gum to one of flowers of sulphur, 
stir it well, and add a little lukewarm water. It may 
be made into little bars by hand ; let them cool, and 
warm them when required for use. 

A very good cement, which, according to Fred. 
Dillaye, is both fiie and water proof, is made as fol- 
lows : — Take half-a-pint of milk, as much vinegar, 
mix them, and take away the whey. Add the white 
of five eggs to the curd, mix the whole well, and add 
so much finely sifted quicklime as will form a paste. 

Snail Cement. — It is said that snails or slugs,, 
mashed, form a strong and hard glue. This is prob- 
able ; also, that it would combine with powdered 
quicklime, or carbonate of lime in powder, to set very 
hard. 

To mend marble use shellac in leaves, mixed with 
white wax. 

To mend alabaster use gum-arabic mixed with 
powdered alabaster. This is also useful for many 
other purposes. 

A cement useful for many purposes, also as a 
ground for painting, is made as follows : — Take barley 
and soak it in six equivalents of water for several 
days, or till the barley expands or sprouts. Throw 
out the barley, after pressing it. This gives a gluti- 
nous liquid, which, combined with pipeclay and white 



2 5 o A MANUAL OF MENDING 

soap, sets hard. It is improved by adding the pow- 
der of calcined bone. Barley water may also be used 
in many other combinations. Gum-aiabic and thin 
glue, dextrine, and fish-glue may be used in its place. 

A STRONG CEMENT FOR HORN OR TORTOISE-SHELL : 

Glue (fluid) ..... i^- 
Sugar-candy ..... 3 
Gum-arabic ..... f 

The two latter to be dissolved in six parts of water. 

Another for the same : — Take strong lime-water ; 
combine it with new cheese. The latter is to be 
mixed with two parts of water, so as to form a soft 
mass. Pour into this the lime-water, but see that 
there is no solid cheese in it. This will form a liquid 
which can be used as a cement. 

Cat-gut, which is, however, made from the intes- 
tines of sheep, &c, is of great seivice in some kinds 
of repairing, owing to its strength. It can be made 
into very small cord, which will sustain a man. 

Very strong cords for fishermen are also said to be 
made by taking silkworms just before they spin, cut- 
ting them open, and using the silk, which is then 
found in a solid, longish lump, and which can be arti- 
ficially drawn out into any shape. It is probable that 
the silk in this state could be thinned and applied in 
combination with fibre to produce useful results. It 
is also probable that this substance, or the silk en 
masse, could be used for mending silk fabrics in many 
ways. It could be pioduced very cheaply, because 
the greatest expense in manufacturing silk is the reel- 
ing, winding, and spinning the thread. 

An incredibly strong and serviceable silk is spun 



GENERAL RECIPES 251 

by the elm-worm, which can be raised in any quanti- 
ties wherever elm-trees abound. This is much culti- 
vated in China, and it is said that garments made of 
its silk descend from father to son. It is several times 
larger than the silkworm, and survives even the severe 
winters of Canada. It would be much easier to raise 
than the delicate bombyx, or common silkworm. It is 
worth noting that a man can carry easily in his pocket 
fifty yards of cat-gut or elm worm silk cord strong 
enough to sustain his weight, which is very useful 
for travellers to know, since it is useful to mend har- 
ness or tether horses. 

To soften Horn. — This material can be softened 
so as to bend in hot water. It requires long boiling. 
According to Geissler, a horn can be moulded to 
shape by steeping the horn for two or three days in 
half a kilogramme of black alicant, 375 grammes of 
newly calcined lime, and 2 litres (two full quarts) of 
hot water. Should the mixture assume a reddish 
colour it is all right ; if not, add more alicant and 
lime. After the horn has been moulded, dry it in 
well-dried common salt. Horn shavings and filings 
are made into a paste, which hardens by being in a 
strong solution of potash and slacked lime, in which 
it becomes jelly-like and can be moulded. This must 
be subjected to pressure to expel the moisture. By 
adding a little glycerine its brittleness is much dimin- 
ished. 

Artificial Bonework. — Reduce the bone or ivory 
to a very fine, flour-like powder, mix it very thor- 
oughly with the white of eggs, and a very hard and 
tough mass will be the result. This can be turned 
and highly polished. This is improved in hardness 



252 A MANUAL OF MENDING 

and quality by grinding the mass again and subject- 
ing it to heat and pressure {Die Verarbeitung Homes, 
&°c. y von Louis Edgar Andes ; Vienna, 1892). 

To properly dust Clothes. — The following ex- 
tract on cleaning garments is taken from my forth- 
coming work, entitled One Hundred Arts : — 

" The obvious way to remove dust from a coat — as 
some take evil out of children (vide Northcote's 
Fables) — is by whipping or beating with a stick. 
This, indeed, effects the purpose, but it speedily 
breaks the fibre of the cloth. Therefore in Germany, 
as in Italy, a little bat plaited of split cane or reeds is 
employed to exorcise the demon of dust, known as 
Papdkeewis to the Chippeways. But better than this 
is a small whisp-broom. Half a century ago this sim- 
ple contrivance was only known in the United States 
and in Poland. 

"Whip the garment with the side of the soft whisp, 
and as the dust rises to the surface brush it away. 
If the reader will try this on any coat, however clean 
it may be, he will be astonished to find how much 
dust he will extract or raise. 

" All the dust which thus lies hidden in cloth, when it 
comes to the surface, acts as.grit or powder insensibly 
but certainly, and helps to wear away the surface 
whenever it is touched. That we take in dust every 
time we go out will appear from inspecting a silk hat. 
Again, the dust on a coat, &c, every time it is rubbed 
by the cleanest hand, takes in grease, which in time 
aids in spoiling the surface. In fact, half the wear- 
out of all cloth is due to dust alone. 

" Therefore, if we carefully dust our clothes with a 
whisp, every time we take them off, fold them with 
care, and lay them in a drawer, they will last much 
longer than they do. Pure air free from dust is as 
conducive to the well-being of coats as to that of their 
wearers, and Dominie Sampson uttered more truth 



GENERAL RECIPES 253 

than he imagined when he observed that the atmos- 
phere of his patron's dwelling was singularly preserva- 
tive of broadcloth." 

In proof of this it may be observed, that as a sand- 
blast attacks some substances exclusively, so dust or 
grit injures certain fabrics and not others, and that 
the latter are all known as the more lasting fabrics. 



INDEX 



Accuracy and care required in 

making cements, 28 
Adding art to arts, 47 
Alabaster, to mend, 249 
Allston, the painter, 123 
Alum as a base, 6 
Amber, repairing and imitating, 

159-158 ; carving amber, 158 

A t • 

Ame/rican cement, 240 

American glaze for postage- 
stamps, 113, 114 

Andes, Louis Edgar, 207, 252 ; 
varnishes, 4 ; on ivory and 
bone, 144, 155 ; on working 
horn, 149 

Arabic, gum, cement of, with 
vinegar, 37 

Avoiding excess in cementing, 
3i 

Badley bound books, 108 
Baer, J., catalogue on glass, 

44 
Bark, powdered, combined with 

glue, 82 
Barley cement, 249, 250 
Bases for beads, &c, 234 
Bayard, Miss Catherine L., 

158 



Bell made of a bottle, 49 

Bent leaves in books, or dog's 
ears, 89, 90 

Benzoin, gum, or lac virginis, 
236, 237 

Binding books, 97-100 {illustra- 
tions), 97, 98 

Blood in cements, 6 

Blowpipe, the, 17, 36 

Boats or canoes made from shav- 
ings, 52 

Boiling china in milk, 19 

Bone, calcined, 92 ; artificial, 

251 
Bookbinders' varnish, 89 ; glue, 

235 

Books, repairing and restoring, 
86-120 

Book-worms, 115-120 

Bottger's cement for pave- 
ments, stone slabs, &c, 29 ; 
acid-proof cement, 247 

Bottles, cracked, how to mend, 
26, 37 ; to close (a cement), 
44 ; to cork or seal them firm- 
ly, 161 ; to seal, 241 

Brass -ware, to look like gold, 
234, 235 

Bread cement, 241-243 



256 



INDEX 



Bread in cements, 8 
Brewster, Sir D., 37 
Brickwork tiles, how to repair, 

28 
Burnished steel or iron work, 

234 

Canes and bows made of shav- 
ings, 54 

Caoutchouc, indiarubber, gutta- 
percha, 2, 4, 126, 127, 159 

Cardboard or pasteboard as 
hard as wood, how to make, 
124, 125 

Carpenters' cement, 79 

Carton-cuir, 121 

Carton-pierre, or " stone-paper," 
to make, 128 

Caseine or cheese in cements, 
6, 27, 40, 41, 137, 138 

Castellani, Signore, 48 

Cat-gut, 250 

Cedar, to imitate, 83 

Cellular tissue, cause of harden- 
ing in organic substances, 9, 
10 

Celluloid, or artificial ivory, its 
raw materials, manufacture, 
&c , by Dr. F. Bockmann, 
9. 152, 153 

Cellulose, 9 ; how discovered 
and made, 82 ; to prepare it 
with acid, 154 

Cement, or adhesive, definition, 
1 ; for broken glass or china, 
23-49 5 f° r glass, china, leath- 
er, &c, 34 ; for wood, 76-83 ; 
for horses' hoofs, 166, 167 ; to 
attach metal, .173, 174 



Ceresa, or mosaic in powder, 

29, 138 
Chalk, 2 

Chamois-leather in repairs, 203 
Chemical apparatus, cement for, 

244 

Chestnut, horse, paste, 243 

China, broken, porcelain, crock- 
ery, majolica, terracotta, 
brick and tile work, 12-32 

Chinese transparent vases, a 
lost art rediscovered, 47, 48 

Chloride of zinc cement, 241 

Cholula, vase from, 13, 14 

Chrome glue, 26, 34 

Chunam, or Indian shell-lime, 

24, 134 

Circles, to draw, 103 

Clamps, or strips of sheet-iron 
or wire, 67 

Claude and Vandervelde, 
216, 217 

Claus's cement for metal and 
glass, 182 

Clay and molasses mortar, 246 

Closing wine-bottles, old meth- 
od, 48, 49 

Cloth-dust on gum in decora- 
tion, 236 

Cloth, waterproofed, recipe for, 
161 ; felt, how to make, 399, 
200 

Clothes, to properly dust and 
keep clean, 252, 253 

Coarse cements for brick, &c, 

139 
Cobbling and shoemaking, 187, 

188 
Cologne, eau de, 237 



INDEX 



2 57 



Concrete, 140 

Copal, gum, 157 

Coral, imitation of, 209 

Corks, to improve, 240 

Cracking of seasoned wood in 
America, 50 

Cracks in furniture, filling, 67 

Crane, Walter, 24 

Crockery, 17, 18 

Crockery or china, mosaic made 
from broken fragments, 139 

Cups and vases of papier- 
mache, how to make {illustra- 
tion), 172 

Davidowsky, F., on glue and 
gelatine, 4 

Decayed wood, to restore, 63 

Decorator, The, 73 

Defacing books, 90 

Deltlle, alleged inventor of wir- 
ing porcelain, 18 

Deterioration in pictures, causes 
of, 214, 215 

Dextrine, or Leiokom, 7 ; gum, 
238 

Diamond cement, 41. {Vide 
Turkish) 

Dtllaye, F., 32 

Dillaye's cement, 249 

Dirt in old pictures, its nature, 

215 

Domes or arched roofs, build- 
ing, 64 

Drake, Sir W., 47 

Drawers, to put handles to, 
62 ; shrinking of them, 62, 

03 

Dry cleaning, 220 



Durer, Albert, 151 
Dusting broken china, 31 

Earthenware tubes, how to 
lute, 27 

Ebonite, 160 

Ebony, repairing or imitating, 
66, 67 

Eder's gum for photographs, 
114 

Eggs in cements, 5 

" Egyptian Sketch-Book, " 210 

Elmworm silk, 250 

Embossing leather, 100 

Engraving and etching glass or 
china, 38 

Erasures in paper, 103 

Essential oils in cleaning pic- 
tures, 225 

Etruscan vases repaired, 15 

Excess of cleaning and igno- 
rance as to effects by age, 214 

Fastening broken furniture, 60, 

61 
Fictile or ceramic ware, 12 
Field, " Chromatography/' 210 
Fillers for wood, 69 
Fire-proof paper, 103 
Floors laid with shavings, 53 
Flour and starch paste, 4, 5 
Flour-paste, to make a strong, 

112 
Flowers made from wood-shav- 
ings and plaster of Paris, glue, 
&c, 68 
Fluid paste, 247 
Flour spar cement, 237 
Flux, vitreous or metallic, 17 
R 



2 5 8 



INDEX 



Forgeries in antiques, 94, 149 
French glue for wood, 80 
French glues, 248 
Furniture, cheap and bad, 58 
Furniture-making, 72 

Garman, Samuel, 116 

Garments, invisible mending of, 
202-205 

Gelatine and vinegar cement for 
china, 25 

General cements, 244 

Gerner, Raimund, ^ Die Glas 
Fabrikation, by, 34, 35 

Gesso-painting, 24 

Glass-mending, with allied proc- 
esses, 33-49 ; old proverb on> 

33 

Glass-powder, 136 ; how to pre- 
pare, 27 

Glass, to pulverise, 234 

Glazed or patent leather, how 
to make, 193 

Glaze-mediums, 228 

Gloves, how cleaned, 238 

Glue, 4 ; and lime cement, 41 ; 
for coarse work, 235 ; water- 
proof, 186 

Glycerine, in cements, 6 ; with 
glue, 68 

Gomme laque, or shellac, 
249 

Goupil, F., Manual of Mending, 
32, 64, 218, 222, 225 

Grease-spots, to remove, 92 

Green, Dr. Samuel A., on 
book-worms, 115 

Grinding off fractures in glass, 
48 



Ground for wax-painting, 228, 
229 

Grounds of pictures, 221 

Guards for mending broken fic- 
tile wares, 31, 32 

Gum for general use, 243 

Gum-mastic, 16, 22 

Gum (or starch), 2, 3 

Gutta-percha and oil cement for 
mending soles, 192 

Gutta-percha cement for leather, 
189 

Gypsum, 6 

Hard cement for all wood, 
80 

Harness, saddle, and bridle re- 
pairing, 193 

Hats, blankets, &c, to mend by 
felting, 199-201 

Heating wood before glueing, 60 

Heigelin, Professor, exhibition 
of flowers made from shav- 
ings, 68 

Hide, raw, 189 

HlLDEBRAND, WOLFGANG, On 

liquid glass, 7, 35, 148 

Hofer, Johannes, 142 

Hofer, Raimund, on india- 
rubber, 159, 168 

Holding together broken china 
while mending, &c, 17 

Holes in leather repaired with 
linen, 161 

Horn, to mould or soften, 148, 

251 
Hubbard, Ernst, " The ren- 
dering Valuable of Refuse 
Wood," by, 69 



INDEX 



2 59 



Hyatt's patent ivory, 153 
Hydraulic lime, 8 

Ignorance, general, as to clean- 
ing pictures, 212 
Imitation indiarubber cloth, 167 
Imperfect work, 107, 108 
Indiarubber, applied to soles of 
shoes, 161 ; or vulcanised 
cement, 162 
Indifferent substances, 6 
Ink-stains, to remove, 90-94, 96 
Inserting pieces in china, &c, 

19, 20 
Iran cements to resist heat, 177, 

178 

Iron doors of furnaces, how to 

seal hermetically, 179 
Iron in cements, 6 
Iron strips and bands in repair- 
ing, 171 
Iron, to set in stone, 178 
Iron ware, or block cement, 180 
Ironwork, setting a cement for, 

176 
Italian peasants' shoes {illus- 

tiori), 192 
Ivory, repairing and imitating. 

143-155 ; cleaning, 143, 144 ; 

imitations, 144 ; staining, 147, 

148 ; softening, 148 

Jewellers' cement, 43. {Vide 

Turkish) 
Jewellers' or Diamond cement, 

174 
Jewesses, repair of embroidery 
by, 202 

Joco-Serioru?n Natures et Artis, 



1670, story from, referring to 

broken pottery, 20, 21, 35. 
Join, to, glass and metal, 43 
Joints in timbers, holes and 

cracks, how to close, 80 
Junemann, F., Die Fabrikation 

des Alauns, 6 

Kaleidoscope, folding, how to 
make a, 37, 38 

Kauri, the gum, 156, 157 

Kelp, 154 

Kettenstich, for German chain- 
stitch, 204 

KlRCHER, ATHANASIUS, 92, 95 

Knotting, patent, 72-74 
Koppe, J. W., on glycerine, 6 
Krall, Barkentin &, brass- 
cleaner, 235 
Kratzer, Harrmann, on liquid 
glass, 8 

Lacquers, 34 

Layard, Sir Austin, 47 

Lead pencil or crayon drawings, 
to protect, 233 

Leather, artificial, 196, T98 

Leather, durability of, 188, 189 

Leather-glue, 197 

Leather-Work, Manual of, 11 1 

Leather-work, repairing, 183- 
198 

Lehner, 2, 5, 7, 9, 26, 28, 29, 31, 
34, 40, 44,77, 79,80,135, 136, 
141, 144, 152, 157, 193, 197, 
207, 208 

Leland, Charles G., quota- 
tion from, 50 

Lemon-juice to whiten the 
hands, 236 



260 



INDEX 



Lime, 5, 24, 134 

Lime cement for glass, 43 

Liquid acid glue, 59, 60 ; recipe 

for, 81 
Lister, Miss Roma, 203 ; MS. 

of Recipes, 65 
Litharge cements for many uses, 

175 

Luther, Martin, 149 

Luting cement, 235 

Luting or closing chemical ap- 
paratus, &c, cements for, 30 

Magnesia, calcined, to extract 

stains, 238 
Majolica, 13, 15, 16 
Malleable glass, 38 
Manuel General du Modelage, 

64 

Marble, fractures, &c, in, 140 ; 

how to clean, 238 ; to mend, 

249 
Marine glue, hard glue, recipe 

and description, 1G2, 163 
Marking-ink, 237 
Marquetry, or inlaid wood, re- 
pairing, 71, 72, 83-85 
Mastic, 19, 135, 136 ; French 

mastic, 136 
Materials used in mending, 1-11 
Meerschaum pipes, to mend or 

make, 240 
Mending cloth with indiarubber, 

165-168 
Mending furniture, 74-76 
Mending or repairing defined, 

1, 2 
Merrick's acid-proof cement, 

246 



Merritt, Henry, 211, 221 
Metal, to attach leather to, 193 
Metal-work, mending, 169-182 
Metallic corners for books {illus- 
trations), 104-106 
Mica, leaves of, how to prepare 

them for windows, 47 
Mierzinski, Dr. Stanislaus, 
on the manufacture of paper, 
132 
Minor ingredients in cements, 10 
Mirror with ornaments (illus- 
tration), 85 
Mogford, Henry, 213, 218, 

219-222 
Mosaics, 134 

Mother - of - pearl and coral, 
mending, 206-209 ; how imi- 
tated, 207 ; from rice, 208 
Mould or mildew in pictures, 226 
Mouth-glue, or solid cement, 

239, 240 
Musical glasses of different 

kinds, 39 
Musical instruments repaired 
with shavings, 54, 55 

Neutral substances in cements, 
6 

Oil, as a basis, 2 ; combination, 
3 ; softening paint, 219 

Old recipes for mending crock- 
ery, 23 et sea. 

Olympiodorus, 99 

" One Hundred Arts," a book 
by the Author, 38 

Ornamenting panes for win- 
dows, and doubling them, 44 



INDEX 



261 



45 ; beautiful and varied ef- 
fects, 46 

Ornamental work made of shav- 
ings, 56, 57 

Ox-gall in cleaning pictures, 
218 

Oxidised cement, 176 

Page, the American painter, 
210 

Pages in books, to repair when 
torn, 90, 91, 94 

Paget's French mastic, 136 

Pamphlets, binding, 100 

Panel pictures', repairing, with 
shavings, 57 ; fourteenth cen- 
tury, in distemper, &c, 227 

Panel, warped, how to straight- 
en a, 228 

Panels of artificial wood, 81 ; 
cements for, 82 

Paper and wood-shavings, 52 

Paper, its composition, 86, 87 ; 
repairing damaged paper, 86, 
87 

Paper-leather, 129, 130 

Papier-mdche\ or softened paper, 
106, 121-133 ; articles made 
from, 121 ; moulding, 121, 122 

Paracelsus, 35 

Parchment paper, how to pre- 
pare, 95, 96 

Parchment, repairing, 122 ; arti- 
ficial, from paper, 122 

Parland, Mr., 128 

Paste of starch or flour, 10 

Paste, leather, the same mixed 
with indiarubber, 185 ; use 
and preparation, &c, 186 



Paste, bookbinders', 96 ; shoe- 
makers', 197 

Patches, inserting, 201 

Patterns cut from wood-shav- 
ings {engraving), 51-53 

Pavements, to repair different 
kinds, 28 

Peat, 78 

Philatius, the inventor of 
book-binding and glue, 99 

Pictures, restoring, 210-230 ; 
glazed and scaling, how to 
treat, 226 

Plaster of Paris, alum, and 
glass cement, 141 

Plugging teeth with indiarubber, 
166 

Polytechnic cement and im- 
perial liquid glue, also Keye's 
cement, 39 

Porcelain, 18 

Potatoes as cement, &c, 9 

Pots, cracks in iron, 180 

Prepare, to, wood for paint, 83 

Process of restoring worn and 
injured binding of a book, 
and of a bas-relief in leather, 
183-185 

Proper paste, the, for wall- 
paper, waterproof, 164, 165 

Pulp, paper, 130-133 

Putty, 33, 34, 69 

Raufer, G. M., on meerschaum 

and amber, 158 
Raw hide, 233 
Recipe, old, for repairing glass, 

36, 37 ; definition of, 231 ; 

general, 231-253 



262 



INDEX 



Red cement for iron, 237 

Reliefs cut in brick, 29 

Repainting old pictures, 226, 
227 

Repairing wood with paper- 
pulp, 132 

Resin or pitch, 2, 3 

Restoring fragments of engrav- 
ings, &c, 115 

Rice and lime cement, 145. 

Rimmel, bookseller in Oxford 
Street, 40 

Ringing or sounding glasses by 
blowing on them, 39 

Ris-Pacquot, M., 18, 29, 147 

Riveting sheet-metal, 169, 170 

Roller, use of the, 54 

Roman and Hungarian pottery, 
&c, 12 

Roman cement, 24 ; for fine 
mosaics, 138 

Rosewood stain, 74 

Rubbing in colour, 14 

Ruprecht, Karl, on egg sub- 
stances and albumen, 5 

Ruskin, 221 

Rust, how removed, 234 

Rust or oxide cement, 177 

Salle's cement for glass, 44 
Satin gloss for paper, 248, 249 
Sawdust (vide also Wood-paste 

or artificial wood), 80 
Scheibler's cement, 244 
Schlosser, Edmund, on solder- 
ing and metal-work, 182 
Schwartz's iron cement, 180 
Scissors, cutting glass with, 48 
Scraping varnish, 223 



Screws, to be dipped in oil or 

boiling wax, 67 
Seams, to repair, 196 
Sedna, Ludwig, on wax, &c, 7 
Sewing or stitching books, 109 
Shoes, easily made, 194, 195 ; 

indiarubber, to repair, 160 
Side-binding, no 
Silicate of soda, or liquid glass, 

7. 20 ; with colour, 29, 33, 

35 
Silico-enamel, 237, 238 
Silk or woolen cloth, to clean, 

232, 233 
Silks, black, gummed, 205 
Silkworm gum, 250 
Silver bands, 20 
Snail cement, 249 
Soaps in cleaning pictures, 224 
Solder, Newton's and Rose's, a 

metallic glass, 181 
Soldering, 171, 172, 180, 181 
Soles, wooden, for shoes, 191 
Sorel's cement, 244 
South Sea Bubble, 58 
Spirits of wine to remove dry 

varnish, 219 
Splicing broken rods, spars, &c. 

(with illustration) , 61 
Spraying, to restore crumbling 

substances by, 146, 147 
Staining or colouring wood, 69, 

70 
Stains, grease, wine, oil, to re- 
move, 232 
Stationer's paste, 247 
Statues, mending, of plaster of 

Paris, 141 
Steam, to clean pictures by, 223 



INDEX 



263 



Stevens' and Manders' wood- 
stains, 70 
Stills, to lute, 245 
Stohmann, classification of ce- 
ments, with Lehner's exten- 
sion of it, 2, 3 
Stonework, mending, 134-142 
Stopper, glass, filed to shape, 48 
Stoves, cement for, 179, 182 
Strips or braces on panels, &c, 

61, 62 
Strong adhesivesfor paper, &c, 

113, 114 
Strong cement, for glass, wood, 

or stone, 42 ; for porcelain, 

glass, &c, 26, 136 
Strop, leather, how to mend a, 

186, 187 
Sturgeon's bladder or fish-glue 

gum, &c, 5, 32, 42 
Syndetikon, 243 

Tapestry glue, 245 

Tarred or tarpaulin paper-bags, 

163 
Tausendkiinstler of 1782, 23 
Tea-leaves, 243 
Terra-cotta, 12, 13, 15 
To preserve the contents of 

bottles when broken, 167 
To protect wood under water, 79 
Tortoise-shell or horn, cement 

for, 250 
Toys, mending, 122, 123 
Tragacanth, gum, 8 
Transferring pictures, 225 
Travellers' glue, 247 
Trees : bark, splits or cavities 

in, 82 ; to protect, 248 



Triangles of tin, &c, used to 
fasten panes of glass, 35 

Tribune, the New York, 60 

Trunks, mending, 190 

Tufa cement, 235 

Turkish or diamond cement, 19, 
41, 42 

Turpentine, a counteracting me- 
dium of solvent spirit, 220 

Ulenhuth, Eduard, on mould- 
ing, 131 

Vandyke, picture by, 222 

Van Helmont on liquid glass, 7 

Varnish, 3, 34 ; to remove, 216- 
220 

Veneers, 51, 53 

Venetian marquetry, 71 

Venetian glass, 36 

Venus mercernaria, or Ameri- 
can clam, 208 

Vermin in wooden dwellings, 
246 

Vinci, Leonardo da, 151 

Vinegar, commonly made from 
sulphuric acid, 60 

Vitreous paint, 40 

Wagner, R., on liquid glass, 7, 

8,35 
Wallberger, Johann, Zauber- 

buch, 96, 234-236 
Wallpaper of wood, used in 

America, 69 
Wall-paper paste, 245 
Wall-paper with common paste 

poisonous, 165 
Walls rendered air-tight (recipe), 

164 



264 



INDEX 



Warped or curved wood, and 
how to flatten it, 61, 62 

Washing broken china for re- 
pairing, 31 

Water in cleaning pictures, 216- 
218 

Waterproof carpets and wall- 
covering made from waste- 
paper, 191 

Waterproof cement, 194 

Wax in cements, 7 

White of egg glaze, 223 

Whitewash, to make equal to 
paint, 79 

Wiegleb, J. C, quotation from, 
1, 147 

Windows, stained glass, works 
on the subject by A. W. 
Franks, Owen Jones, West- 
lake, &c, 40. 

Wine-stains, to remove, 231, 232 

Wire, for mending china, 19 ; 
in repairing, 170, 171 j 



Wire-mending, 62 

Wood-ashes in picture-clean- 
ing, 224 

Wood-Carving, a Manual of, by 
Charles Godfrey Leland, 
70 

Wood-paste, or artificial wood, 
63 et seq.\ houses can be 
made of it, 64 

Wood-shavings in mending and 
making, 50-57 

Woodwork, repairing, 58-85 

Woollen cloth, to clean, 231 

Work, a scientific journal, 129 

Worms in wood, to extermi- 
nate, 72 

Wrinkles and freckles, 236 

Zeiodeleth, 246, 247 
Zinc, a cement for, 174, 175 
Zwick, Dr. H., on lime and 
mortar, 5 ; in Hydraulischer 
Kalk und Portland Cement, 8 



THE END 



